A Method To Predict the Fire Resistance of Steel Building Columns

Using the mathematical model described earlier, the temperatures of the steel of Column No. 1 were calculated. In the calculation, the thermal properties of the steel, vermiculite board insulation and the specifics of the column and furnace, given in Appendix A, were used. Because the thermal properties of the insulation of the other columns were not known, no temperature calculations were made for these columns. The results for Column No. 1 are given in Fig. 7 where the calculated average steel temperatures are compared with those measured. As also shown in previous studies, it is possible, using the mathematical model, to predict the steel temperatures with high accuracy, if the thermal properties of the insulation are known. In this case the thermal properties of the insulation were determined at the National Fire Laboratory, Institute for Research in Construction, NRCC.40 The temperatures are to some extent also dependent on the heat transfer characteristics of the furnace. If the heat transfer is high, however (which is the case for the furnace in which the column was tested), variations in heat transfer have only a small effect on the temperature of the steel.