FIRE RESISTANCE LIMIT AND SAFETY ANALYSIS OF STEEL FRAME ASSEMBLIES

Based on the upper bound theorem, the fire resistance limit of steel frames in petrochemical equipments is studied. In the study, the fundamental collapse mechanisms are assumed to be superposed, and the nonlinear programming method is used. Both two-dimensional frame structures and three-dimensional frame structures are analyzed, and computer programs are developed with FORTRAN. The comparison with the experimental results shows that the proposed method is simple and efficient. It can be used in fire design of steel frame assemblies.