Structural Response of a Steel-Frame Building to Traveling Fire

This article investigates the response of an unprotected three-storey steel moment-resisting frame subjected to a suite of horizontally traveling fire scenarios. A series of multi-step finite-element simulations was conducted to analyze the impact of traveling fires on both the global and local responses of a low-rise building frame. The research considers a range of fire types, both uniform and spatially varying, as well as different locations, and sizes to capture a diverse array of fire scenarios. Non-uniform compartment fires are modeled using the improved traveling fire method (iTFM), while uniform fires are simulated using the Eurocode parametric (EC) fire model. Four traveling fire scenarios with floor area coverage ranging from 5% to 48% are examined. The resulting deformation patterns, along with bending moment and axial force distributions in critical beam and column sections within the fire compartments, are thoroughly evaluated. The findings reveal that, within the case study frame and the range of parametric analyses, a uniform compartment fire does not necessarily yield the worst-case scenario commonly assumed in design codes. Instead, global and local structural responses are primarily influenced by traveling fire scenarios.