Comparative Study of Calculation Models for the Fire Resistance of Hollow Steel Columns Filled with Concrete

Various calculation methods are proposed in codes for the evaluation of fire resistance of hollow steel columns filled with concrete, but the use of some of them may be very tedious for design engineers, and it may be interesting to have more practical tools at their disposal. In the comparative study presented here, three methods based on different procedures are investigated. Kodur’s method is a set of formulas allowing to calculate the fire resistance or the maximum applied load. Potfire is a computer program for which a user’s manual is provided and clean instructions describe how to introduce the data. SAFIR is a non-linear computer code that can simulate the behavior of structures under fire conditions. Comparisons are made between the results obtained by the three methods and test results. The differences are analyzed, and the influence of some parameters is examined. From the results obtained in this comparative study, it is possible to say in which cases each method can be used.