Temperature Assessment of a Vertical Steel Member Subjected to Localised Fire: Experimental Tests

Abstract

This paper describes the series of pool fire tests performed by the Universities of Liege and Ulster in order to assess the heat fluxes received by vertical members in case of localised fires. All these tests, performed in the scope of the RFCS project LOCAFI, have allowed gathering a large amount of experimental data for calibration and validation of subsequent numerical and analytical models. The influence of several parameters was investigated, such as the type of fuel (heptane, diesel, wood cribs), the dimension of the fire pool (diameter from 0.7 m to 2.2 m), the presence of a column (tubular or I-shape sections) and the presence of a ceiling. Although the wind speed remained limited as these tests have been performed indoor, the inclination of the flames was nevertheless significant and, in many cases, the measurements of gas temperature close to the column showed a quite significant asymmetry.