Temperature analysis of fire exposed load-bearing structures of mono glazed balconies

Sammanfattning: Previous to the now acting construction regulations EKS and Eurocode, the fire resistance of the load-bearing structures of mono glazed balconies were designed with a fire test called the SP fire 105. In 2011, when EKS replaced the previous construction regulations called Boverkets konstruktionsregler, BKR, the SP fire 105 was no longer the requirement for mono glazed balconies. Instead, EKS prescribed that the load-bearing structures of mono glazed balconies should be determined by the use of nominal fire exposure or a natural fire model. EKS and Eurocode have previously prescribed that the standard temperature-time curve (ISO 834) was to be used when determining the fire resistance of structural elements according to nominal temperature-time curves. But an agreement made between Balkongföreningen and Boverket in 2011, established that the external temperature-time curve could be used for determination of the fire resistance of the structural elements of mono glazed balconies. The external temperature-time curve means a design temperature of the structural members of approximately 680 °C for a fire-resistance class R30, instead of a temperature of 842 °C for the standard temperature-time curve. In 2019, EKS 11 was introduced with a slight change in the regulation. The new regulation specifically implies that building parts placed within glazed balconies should not be considered as external. Due to the formulation in EKS 11, it is no longer possible to use the external temperature-time curve for verification of the fire resistance of structural elements of mono glazed balconies. The formulation says that building parts placed within glazed balconies should not be considered as external, which means that the standard temperature-time curve must be applied. The present research tries to clarify the more reasonable temperature-time curve of the standard fire curve and the external fire curve, or if neither of the curves is realistic. 16 scenarios were analysed in this study. Using CFD simulations in FDS, the adiabatic surface temperature of the structural parts could be established. The adiabatic surface temperatures were then used as input in the FEM calculation program TASEF to calculate the temperatures of structural elements of a mono glazed balcony during a fire. The results imply that the max temperatures of the steel members of the mono glazed balcony analysed are generally lower than the temperatures of the external temperature-time curve. In a worst-case scenario where the structural member is located just adjacent to the fire source, the max temperature can be higher than the temperature of the standard temperature-time curve. The balcony slab reaches max temperatures between the external temperature-time curve and the standard temperature-time curve. The temperature within the slab is below 500 °C at a depth of 15 mm and according to the 500 °C isotherm method presented in SS-EN 1992-1-2, concrete that has a temperature lower than 500 °C has not been damaged by the fire. Further studies are needed to establish whether the external temperature-time curve or the standard temperature-time curve is to be used when designing the fire resistance of the load-bearing structure of mono glazed balconies. A suggestion for further studies is to conduct fire tests of a fire within a mono glazed balcony. Such results could then be compared to the results of this study and hopefully, lead to conclusions that are needed for a complete establishment of which temperature-time curve that should be used.