Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Sensitivity of composite floor system response at elevated temperatures to structural features

Published

Author(s)

Therese P. McAllister

Abstract

The sensitivity of composite floor system response at elevated temperatures to variations in structural features is examined. Four structural features were varied between two values or conditions, based on a recommendation from the NIST investigation of the WTC 7 collapse. The four structural features were varied between the two values in a sensitivity study based on a 2^4 factorial design. The effect of the four parameters, as well as their interaction effects, is evaluated relative to the average response for all combinations through both time to onset of damage and time to first failure. The results of the 16 analyses are presented in terms of time to damage onset and failure. Parameters that affected the response by more than 0.5 h were considered to have a significant effect on the floor system response to fire. Parameters that affected the response by 0.2 h up to 0.5 h were considered influential. Of the four structural features varied in the analyses, floor beam length most affected the structural response of the floor system, sometimes changing the time to damage onset or first failure by more than 0.5 h. The other three features, the presence or absence of girder studs, connection type (single or double shear), and one- or two-sided girder framing, influenced the structural response by 0.2 h up to 0.5 h. Interaction effects also influenced the structural response, indicating that the structural features cannot be evaluated independently.
Citation
Journal of Structural Engineering-ASCE

Keywords

composite floor system, structural-fire response, shear stud, connections, buckling, structural failure

Citation

McAllister, T. (2014), Sensitivity of composite floor system response at elevated temperatures to structural features, Journal of Structural Engineering-ASCE (Accessed March 19, 2024)
Created January 1, 2014, Updated February 19, 2017