HIFICOMP: Use of high performance materials for the enhancement of the fire resistance of composite columns with concrete encased steel sections
Principal researchers:
MANUEL LUIS ROMERO GARCÍA
ANA ESPINÓS CAPILLA
Team members:
- ANTONIO HOSPITALER PÉREZ
- CARMEN IBÁÑEZ USACH
- ANDRÉS LAPUEBLA FERRI
- DAVID MEDALL MARTOS
- DAVID PONS ALIAGA
- ENRIQUE SERRA MERCÉ
Funding Agency:
Duration: 01/06/2020 – 29/02/2024
Reference: PID2019-105908RB-I00
Summary
Steel-concrete composite columns are increasingly being used internationally in the new building proposals. However, in the case of slender columns, there are deficiencies that limit their use in construction, associated with problems related to buckling and fire resistance. For this reason, innovative solutions are needed that allow these columns to provide an adequate response in the fire situation.
In this Project, it is aimed to study innovative composite sections with steel profiles embedded in concrete and high performance materials, in order to ensure that the column is able to withstand the load applied during the required fire resistance time. The use of the innovative composite sections proposed in this project may solve the aforementioned shortcomings, since the existence of an inner steel profile protected from direct exposure to fire by the surrounding concrete would make it possible to resist more effectively the second-order effects on slender columns. Through the study of different sectional configurations and combinations of different grades of steel for the inner profiles, as well as different concrete grades, solutions will be sought to achieve the requirements of fire resistance. The use of high-strength steels is also proposed in this project, in order to increase the fire resistance of this type of columns without the need to use external protection. It is anticipated here that, in a fire situation, it will be more effective to use high-strength steel at the inner profile, thermally protected by the concrete infill, taking full advantage of its greater strength.
Within the framework of this project, it is proposed to carry out thermo-mechanical tests in several phases: material, stub columns and slender columns, extending the experimental campaign with the numerical results obtained through parametric studies using a previously validated finite element model. The project will be limited to circular and square sections, since they are mostly used in practice and have also been studied in depth in previous projects with CFST columns, which generates the ideal reference framework.