The effect of the failure of the steel roof on the facade concrete columns of a warehouse in fire. A study case

Abstract

ABSTRACT In many situations, the Brazilian Legislation does not require verifying roof structures in a fire, since their failure will not endanger the stability of the structure. In fire, the steel roof of an industrial building deforms by heating in geometry similar to a catenary, resulting in horizontal forces in the upper extremities of the columns. Thus, even roofs that do not constitute a frame with the columns may lead them to collapse, and should therefore be protected against fire. Due to the small dimensions of the structural elements of the roof, fire coating is uneconomical. There is thus a problem in the design practice. A procedure based on the British literature in which horizontal load is considered in the columns is presented in this paper. Columns and foundations must support that load. That load should be determined and the columns should be checked for fire situation. The aim of this paper is to detail this procedure, adapt it to Brazilian standards and apply it to a case study.