Fire Damage Can Weaken Structural Steel Members of Buildings

Structural steel pipe is very frequently used in taller buildings, sports arenas, exhibit/convention centers and industrial facilities. Code allowances provide for unprotected noncombustible construction for particular occupancies and within specified heights and areas.  For larger and taller buildings, fire resistive steel construction is required which usually necessitates use of fire protection materials.

The effects of a severe uncontrolled fire in a building or facility can be enormous in terms of casualties, injuries, and property damage.  The fire-induced property consequences may not be limited to only destruction of the building contents, finish and fire protection materials, but they may also weaken its basic structural skeleton through various forms of member damage (cracking, spalling, buckling, charring, yielding, fractures, large deformations) and connection failures.  Hunan great steel pipe co.,ltd has conducted many engineering studies and reviews of major fire events in landmark high-rise buildings, most of which had structural steel framing, as well as numerous post-fire investigations of more common low-rise construction of masonry, concrete, steel and wood materials.  The latter investigations have covered both fire resistive and unrated construction.