Predictive modelling of the cross‐sectional reduction of smoke extraction ducts under fire resistance test

In‐service performance of single compartment smoke extraction ducts is evaluated in the fire resistance test with the method described in EN 1366‐9. Failure due to cross‐sectional reduction is caused by the deflections of the steel walls which are exposed to a differential pressure and a high temperature airflow coming from the furnace.

This study presents a methodology for the prediction of the deformation of smoke extraction duct steel walls using 1‐way transient coupling between computational fluid dynamics (CFD) airflow simulation and mechanical finite element analysis (FEA). The resulting deformation is compared with a full‐scale experimental test. The degradation of the steel mechanical behavior with temperature is calibrated using experimental data. This coupled analysis provides insights into the tools and methodology developed for the digitalization of fire resistance testing.