Passive Fire Raised at the BCSA CFS Group
Posted on 14th December 2023 at 11:04
On wednesday the 6th December 2023 we had the opportunity to raise and discuss our proposals for calculated passive fire capacity with the BCSA's Cold Formed Steel group and had a very positive response.
Our Steve Napper CEng IMechE attended the BCSA’s Cold Formed Steel group Online meeting held on 6th December 2023, from 15.30 to 17.00 and we are pleased to be able to report that it was well received and minute’ d as follows:
8.4 Passive fire protection and hot state calculation as opposed to pure testing
SN gave a presentation on passive fire protection of light-gauge steel, to develop requirements based on engineering judgement (desktop assessment) vs. test data. SN tabled the following supporting documents:
Technical note: Calculation approach to steel studs, see doc. BCSA-CFS-2023-012,
Fire state checks based on test data, see doc. BCSA-CFS-2023-013,
Hot state fire checks, see doc. BCSA-CFS-2023-014.
Essentially, SN is developing fire calculations that account for the deflection due to thermal bowing demonstrated in tested data and using guidance from existing test reports. The main issue is determining the temperatures – thermal curvature is part of the structural design but it is verified against test data. SN is suggesting that qualified Fire Engineers can confirm the fire rating based on extrapolation of existing test data.”
Steve also had additional comment post the meeting minutes from Ana Girão Coelho, Director of Engineering at the BCSA:
“I feel that your proposal has merit, but it might not be accepted to use desktop methods to extend test data, especially following Grenfell and should be further discussed. We can certainly include it in the agenda again for next meeting.”
While not a ringing endorsement it’s certainly positive and confirms, which we already knew, but we are on the right path, but that others independently agree.
Ana has confirmed that this is correct and acceptable to post and also added:
“Yes, it does create a problem for the industry… We have a small WG discussing some issues related to portal frames in boundary conditions, as reported in the CFS meeting, and facing similar issues.Ana Girão Coelho, Director of Engineering at the BCSA:
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