• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.201-216
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• 2008

The Eurocode system provides limited information regarding the structural fire design of external steel structures. Eurocode 1 provides thermal action for external member but only in steady-state conditions. On the other hand, Eurocode 3 provides a methodology to determine heat transfer to external steelwork, but there is no distinction in cross section shapes and, in addition, the calculated temperature distribution is assumed to be uniform in the cross section. This paper presents the results of a research carried out to develop a new transient heat transfer model for external steel elements to improve the current approach of the Eurocodes. This research was carried out as part of the project EXFIRE "Development of design rules for the fire behaviour of external steel structures", funded by the European Research Programme of the Research Fund for Coal and Steel (RFCS).