• International Journal of High-Rise Buildings
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.49-62
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• 2013

Many previous tall building fires demonstrate that despite code compliant construction fires often spread vertically and burn over multiple floors at the same time. The collapses of the WTC complex buildings in 9/11 as well as other partial collapses like the ones of the Windsor Tower in Madrid and of the Technical University of Delft building posed new questions on the stability of tall buildings in fire. These accidents have shown that local or global collapse is possible in multi-floor fires. In most of the previous work involving multi-floor fires all floors were assumed to be heated simultaneously although in reality fires travel from one floor to another. This paper extends previous research by focusing on the collapse mechanisms of tall buildings in fire and performs a parametric study using various travelling rates. The results of the study demonstrate that vertically travelling fires have beneficial impact in terms of the global structural response of tall buildings in comparison to simultaneous fires. Contrary to the beneficial effect of the travelling fires in terms of the global structural response, it was noticed that higher tensile forces were also present in the floors compared to simultaneous multi-floor case. Designers are therefore advised to consider simultaneous multi-floor fire as an upper bound scenario. However, a scenario where a travelling fire is used is also suggested to be examined, as the tensile capacity of connections may be underestimated.

• International Journal of High-Rise Buildings
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.389-396
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• 2018

This paper presents a numerical investigation on the structural response of a multi-story building subjected to spreading multi-compartment fires. A recently proposed simple fire model has been used to simulate two spreading multi-compartment fire scenarios in a 10-story steel-framed office building. By assuming simple temperature rising and distribution profiles in the fire exposed structural components (steel beams, steel column and concrete slabs), finite element simulations using a three-dimensional structural model has been carried out to study the failure behavior of the whole structure in two multi-compartment fire conditions and also in a standard fire condition. The structure survived the standard fire but failed in the multi-compartment fire. Whilst more accurate fire models and heat transfer models are needed to better predict the behaviors of structures in realistic fires, the current study based on very simple models has demonstrated the importance and necessity of considering spreadingmulti-compartment fires in fire resistance design of multi-story buildings.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.46 no.2
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• pp.279-292
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• 2023

Structural design against the progressive collapse has been a vital necessity for decades due to occasional tragic events. The question of whether designed structures against the progressive collapse are still robust if subjected to multi-hazard scenarios containing column removal and successive localized fires is ad-dressed in the current study. Two seven-story steel structures with an identical area but different structural configurations of 4- and 5-bays are designed against the progressive collapse; the structural components are also fireproofed for a 60 min fire resistance. The structures are then subjected to different column re-moval scenarios over different stories followed immediately by localized fires. Results indicate that the structures are not able to keep their stability under all of the considered scenarios; the 4-bay structure is more vulnerable than the 5-bay structure. It is also indicated that upper stories are more sensitive toward the considered scenarios than lower stories. To advance structural safety, two strategies are adopted: in-creasing the thickness of the insulation materials to reduce the thermal effects, or, increasing the safety fac-tor (ΩN) of the structures when designing against the progressive collapse. As for the first strategy, provid-ing a 35% and a 25% increase in the insulation thicknesses of the structural components of the 4-bay and 5-bay structures, respectively, can prevent a progressive collapse to trigger. As for the second strategy, in-creasing ΩN by 10% can enhance the structural integrity to where no collapse occurs under all of the sce-narios.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.209-217
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• 2021

Although forest fires are more often triggered by artificial causes than by natural causes, the combustion conditions that spread forest fire damage over a large area are affected by natural phenomena. Therefore, using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM), which can analyze the dependent and causal relationships between various factors, this study evaluated the causal relationships and relative influences between forest fire, weather, and drought, taking Gangwon Province as our sample region. The results indicated that the impact of drought on forest fires was 27 % and that of the weather was 38 %. In addition, forest fires in spring accounted for about 60 % of total forest fires. This indicatesthat along with meteorological factors, the autumn and winter droughts in the previous year affected forest fires. In assessing the risk of forest fires, if severe meteorological droughts occur in autumn and winter, the probability of forest fires may increase in the spring of the following year.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.101-112
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• 2022

Expanding urbanization practices result in high numbers of buildings being developed in city centers. This high building concentration leads to an increased fire risk, resulting in higher casualty rates and increased economic damages compared to fires in the past. The purpose of this study was to analyze the structural behavior of fire-damaged reinforced concrete buildings using analytical methods and to suggest methods of improving fire resistance in the event of a fire. Damage levels were measured using commercial software to apply the finite element method, ABAQUS, and MIDAS GEN to the dataset. Load-deflection curves were calculated using the effective area and moment of inertia of the fire-damaged columns provided by ABAQUS. The results of this analysis indicate that fire-damaged beams with experience greater deflection from indoor fires than they will from outdoor fires. Fires that occurred on the middle floors were more dangerous than those occurring on higher floors, and eccentrically loaded columns experienced more damage than axially loaded columns. The results indicate that these methods accurately predict structural behaviors of fire damaged concrete columns by considering fire exposure area and eccentric loading.

• International Journal of High-Rise Buildings
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.265-283
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• 2021

To ensure that fire induced collapse of a building is prevented it is important to understand the sequence of events that can lead to this event. In this paper, the initiation of collapse mechanisms of generic a multi-storey steel frame subjected to vertical and horizontal travelling fires are analysed computationally by tracking the formation of plastic hinges in the frame and generation of fire induced loads. Both uniform and travelling fires are considered. In total 58 different cases are analysed using finite element software LS-DYNA. For the frame examined with a simple and generic structural arrangement and higher applied fire protection to the columns, the results indicate that collapse mechanisms for singe floor and multiple floor fires can be each split into two main groups. For single floor fires (taking place in the upper floors of the frame (Group S1)), collapse is initiated by the pull-in of external columns when heated beams in end bays go into catenary action. For single floor fires occurring on the lower floors(Group S2), failure is initiated (i.e. ultimate strain of the material is exceeded) after the local beam collapse. Failure in both groups for single floor fires is governed by the generation of high loads due to restrained thermal expansion and the loss of material strength. For multiple floor fires with a low number of fire floors (1 to 3) - Group M1, failure is dominated by the loss of material strength and collapse is mainly initiated by the pull-in of external columns. For the cases with a larger number of fire floors (5 to 10) - Group M2, failure is dominated by thermal expansion and collapse is mainly initiated by swaying of the frame to the side of fire origin. The results show that for the investigated frame initiation of collapse mechanisms are affected by the fire type, the number of fire floors, and the location of the fire floor. The findings of this study could be of use to designers of buildings when developing fire protection strategies for steel framed buildings where the potential for a multifloor fire exists.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.54 no.3
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• pp.145-156
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• 2021

Forest fires have frequently occurred around the world, and the damages are increasing. In Korea, most forest fires are initiated by human activities, but climate factors such as temperature, humidity, and wind speed have a great impact on combustion environment of forest fires. In this study, therefore, based on statistics of forest fires in Gyeonggi-do over the past five years, meteorological and hydrological factors (i.e., temperature, humidity, wind speed, precipitation, and drought) were selected in order to quantitatively investigate causal relationships with forest fire. We applied a partial least squares structural equation model (PLS-SEM), which is suitable for analyzing causality and predicting latent variables. The overall results indicated that the measurement and structural models of the PLS-SEM were statistically significant for all evaluation criteria, and meteorological factors such as humidity, temperature, and wind speed affected by amount of -0.42, 0.23 and 0.15 of standardized path coefficient, respectively, on forest fires, whereas hydrological factor such as drought had an effect of 0.23 on forest fires. Therefore, as a practical method, the suggested model can be used for analyzing and evaluating influencing factors of forest fire and also for planning response and preparation of forest fire disasters.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.294-305
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• 2014

In offshore structures, fire is one of the most important hazardous events. The concern of fires has recently been reflected in the rules and quantified risk assessment based design practice. Within the framework of quantified risk assessment and the management of offshore installations, therefore, more refined computations of the consequences or hazardous action effects due to fire are required. To mitigate fire risk, passive fire protection(PFP) is widely used on offshore structures. This study presents methods for a nonlinear structural response analysis considering the PFP effects under fires. It is found that a structural response analysis is most likely to use valuable technology for the optimization and design of offshore structures with PFP. Thermal and structural response analyses have been performed using LS-DYNA and FAHTS/USFOS. The results of these structural response analyses are compared with each other.

• Proceedings of the Korea Institute of Fire Science and Engineering Conference
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• 2009.04a
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• pp.410-414
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• 2009

Performance based fire engineering design should be developed through basic survey and fundamental element such as analytic program for evaluation of fire performance of building. The basic elements will be expressed to the surveys of the structures of building laws, regulation and the fundamental elements consist of technical guidances contained design fires, heat analysis, determination of structural performance.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2003.04a
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• pp.1384-1388
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• 2003

In structural fires, flashover is characterized by the rapid transition in fire behavior from localized burning of fuel to the involvement of all combustibles in the enclosure. An investigation of parameter effects on the time to reach flashover conditions in a typical single room fire is undertaken using a zone method (FAST) and Thomas method. Major parameters affecting the time to reach flashover are found to be fire growth rate, ventilation opening area and internal room surface. The results of the FAST and the Thomas Method give very similar results of the time to reach flashover..