Experimental Analysis of Steel Beams Subjected to Fire Enhanced by Brillouin Scattering-Based Fiber Optic Sensor Data

Published

July 25, 2016

Author(s)

Yi Bao, Yizheng Chen, Matthew Hoehler, Christopher M. Smith, Matthew Bundy, Genda Chen

Abstract

This paper presents high temperature measurements using a Brillouin scattering-based fiber optic sensor and the application of the measured temperatures and building code recommended material parameters into enhanced thermomechanical analysis of simply supported steel beams subjected to combined thermal and mechanical loading. The distributed temperature sensor captures detailed, nonuniform temperature distributions that are compared locally with thermocouple measurements with less than 4.7% average difference at 95% confidence level. The simulated strains and deflections are validated using measurements from a second distributed fiber optic (strain) sensor and two linear potentiometers, respectively. The results demonstrate that the temperature-dependent material properties specified in the four investigated building codes lead to strain predictions with less than 13% average error at 95% confidence level and that the Europe building code provided the best predictions. However, the implicit consideration of creep in Europe is insufficient when the beam temperature exceeds 800°C

Citation

Journal of Structural Engineering-ASCE

Pub Type

Journals

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Keywords

Steel beams, Thermo-mechanical analysis, Non-uniform temperature distribution, Distributed fiber optic sensors, Fire

Citation

Bao, Y. , Chen, Y. , Hoehler, M. , Smith, C. , Bundy, M. and Chen, G. (2016), Experimental Analysis of Steel Beams Subjected to Fire Enhanced by Brillouin Scattering-Based Fiber Optic Sensor Data, Journal of Structural Engineering-ASCE, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=919807 (Accessed October 27, 2025)