Modeling fire resistance of timber columns: Influence of elevated-temperature material models in finite element analysis

[EN] Although load-bearing timber members are used in increasingly large structures, guidance on numerical methods for assessing their fire behavior remains limited. The objective of this paper is to investigate the fire resistance of timber columns through finite element analysis with a focus on th...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Ma, Chenzhi, Garcia-Castillo, Ester, Gernay, Thomas, Paya-Zaforteza, Ignacio
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2025
País:España
Institución:Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV)
Repositorio:RiuNet. Repositorio Institucional de la Universitat Politécnica de Valéncia
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:riunet.upv.es:10251/230452
Acceso en línea:https://riunet.upv.es/handle/10251/230452
Access Level:acceso embargado
Palabra clave:Timber columns
Fire resistance
Stress-strain relationship
Elevated temperature properties
Plasticity
Finite element modeling
Descripción
Sumario:[EN] Although load-bearing timber members are used in increasingly large structures, guidance on numerical methods for assessing their fire behavior remains limited. The objective of this paper is to investigate the fire resistance of timber columns through finite element analysis with a focus on the effect of the stress-strain relationship. Nonlinear fiber-based beam elements with temperature-dependent material properties are used to model 52 standard fire resistance tests on glulam columns. The influence of the strength reduction factors at elevated temperature and the plastic limit strain in compression is studied with a Bayesian optimization process. Use of the Eurocode 5 strength reduction factors results in underestimation of the columns¿ fire resistance. Numerical accuracy improves by using a higher quantile of the strength reduction factor and some degree of plasticity in compression. With optimized stress-strain parameters, the predicted/measured fire resistance ratio averages 0.94 (SD = 0.130). It is also found that the numerical model is more conservative for columns with lower depth-to-breadth ratios and high load levels. The findings of this study support the development of improved numerical modeling techniques for assessing the fire response of timber structures as well as guidance for material properties in standards.