An approach for evaluating fire resistance of steel beams considering creep effect

Most of previous studies on fire resistance of restrained steel beams neglected creep effect due to lack of suitable creep model. This paper presents a finite element model (FEM) for accessing the fire resistance of restrained high strength Q460 steel beams by taking high temperature Norton creep model of steel into consideration. The validation of the established model is verified by comparing the axial force and deflection of restrained beams obtained by finite element analysis with test results. In order to explore the creep effect on fire response of restrained Q460 steel beams, the thermal axial force and deflection of the beams are also analyzed excluding creep effect. Results from comparison infer that creep plays a crucial role in fire response of restrained steel beam and neglecting the effect of creep may leads to unsafe design. A simplified design approach to determine the moment capacity of restrained Q460 steel beams is proposed based on the results of parametric studies by considering creep effect.