Fire behaviour of steel members penetrating concrete walls

In steel construction, it is often desirable for a steel member to pass through a concrete fire wall rather than being curtailed at the wall. In situations where a steel member penetrates a fire wall, the member will usually be fire protected for a certain length on each side of the wall so as to minimise the heat flow through the steel member and reduce the likelihood of ignition of combustibles on the non-fire (unexposed) side within the adjacent compartment. The testing reported in this paper suggests that it is not necessary to apply fire protection to each side of a penetrating steel member since the resulting temperature rise of the member is insufficient to cause ignition.