Science and technology developments in structural fire engineering

The devastation caused by fire within buildings can result in loss of life and significant economic loss due to direct and indirect costs. In terms of structural performance, the understanding of the behaviour of buildings during a fire has been stifled by the concentration on the performance of structural elements in small-scale fire tests required for approval. Recently, a series of full-scale fire tests has been carried out on various forms of construction which together with the development of fire design approaches has revolutionised the approach to structural fire engineering. The understanding of these full-scale tests, together with the development of codified performance-based approaches, has begun to present designers with the necessary tools to obtain a better prediction of the building's performance during a fire. This in turn allows designers to obtain more economical solutions and identify any weak points within the structural system, ensuring a robust and safe design. This paper presents the latest developments in structural fire engineering, highlighting first the problems of the traditional design approaches and the advantages to be gained by following the more recently developed performance-based approaches.