Construction Technology 4 Report: Fire Protection of Structural Steel

This report examines five fire protection methods for structural steel, crucial for fire safety in construction. It covers boards and blanket fire protection, intumescent coatings, sprayed cementitious or gypsum-based coatings, concrete encasement, and flexible/blanket systems. Each method is analyzed, detailing its working process, effectiveness, associated costs, and construction aspects, including the materials used. The report provides insights into the advantages and disadvantages of each technique, highlighting their suitability for different applications and considering factors like aesthetic appeal and durability. The findings emphasize that flexible, board, and sprayed methods are cost-effective and efficient, whereas concrete encasement is more expensive. The report concludes that the selection of a fire protection method depends on specific project requirements, balancing cost, performance, and construction considerations. The report is a comprehensive overview of fire protection strategies for structural steel, aiding students in understanding the practical aspects of fire safety in the construction industry.

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Fire protection methods for
structural steel

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Table of Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................2
Fire protection methods for structural steel...............................................................................................2
Boards and blanket fire protection process.............................................................................................2
Intumescent coating steel structure........................................................................................................3
Sprayed cementitious or gypsum-based coating.....................................................................................6
Concrete encasement..............................................................................................................................7
Flexible/Blanket system...........................................................................................................................8
Conclusion...................................................................................................................................................9
References.................................................................................................................................................11

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Introduction
Structural steel is a group of material which is shaped with a precise cross-section and
quantified standards of métier. It is observed that structural steel can be recycled and
effective reused material in the world. Steel construction fire defense techniques are
mainly developed to defend the construction from passion for a quantified amount of
period (Adewale, et al., 2013). The purpose of this research is to examine and review
numerous fire protection methods for protecting structural steel. It is argued that fire
defense methods can be divided into two parts including active and passive techniques.
This research will cover five fire defense approaches for structural steel and review their
working process, effectiveness, and associated costs.
Fire protection methods for structural steel
There are major five methods developed for protecting structural steels from the fire which
are described below:
Boards and blanket fire protection process
It is an effective process that has the potential to control and manage risks in the structural
steels. This type of method is mainly utilized due to several reasons including cost-
effective, reliable, and rainproof may be useful to non-painted strengthen memberships
(Carosio, et al., 2015). The below figure shows the process of boards and blanket fire
protection:
Figure: boards fire protection

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(Source: Carosio, et al., 2015)
Such kind of fire protection process is more strong and durable but also helpful for
handling the other issues that impact on the performance of the structural steel.
The width of the panel is reliant on the physical type utilized for board manufacture and
the stated fire score required. It is argued that boards may be produced from various kinds
of materials including mineral fiberboard, calcium silicate, and gypsum plaster and so on.
Moreover, the board fire defense scheme is categorized into various types including
heavyweight and frivolous panels (Franssen, and Real, 2012). In terms of effectiveness
boarded fire protection is more effective and reliable by which it can be used in the
reduction of fire protection issues in the structural steel. It is examined that this type of
methodology is less expensive in terms of development and implement due to which many
consumers are moving towards boarded fire protection. The board fire defense scheme is
able of fighting passion for a supreme of 4 hours. Moreover, it can be applied for a steel
factor that may not be endangered by panel fire defense due to indiscretion in the shapes
including truss memberships.
Intumescent coating steel structure
It is similar to canvas material which is sedentary at ambient infection but it would activate
at a larger temperature including the range of 200 to 250 degrees Celsius. It is observed
that when intumescent painting triggers, it experiences multifaceted chemical reactions
and swell intensely highlighted in the below figure:

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Figure: Intumescent coating process
(Guo, et al., 2013)
It is argued that the width of swollen intumescent covering could reach up to 50 times its
original thickness. It is a more effective and appropriate process that has the potential to
control and manage issues in structural steel and protect from fire (Khorasani, Gardoni,
and Garlock, 2015). There are numerous advantages of this process including easy to use,
durable, cover complex designs or shapes effectively, reduce fire-related issues, maintained
effectively, and so on. However, there are various drawbacks of this methodology including
larger costs, require more efforts, conservation of good excellence coating require higher
attention and efforts and many more (Mariappan, 2016). Such kind of protection method
may be applied at the edifice site and of the building site. The construction process of this
process is very easy which is mainly measured if aesthetic arrival is not a key concern in
the structural steels. The below figures indicate the construction of intumescent fire
protection system:
Figure: Construction of intumescent fire protection system

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(Source: Mariappan, 2016)

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It is considered suitable for irregular and complex fabrication processes including girders,
cellular strengthen rays and so on. The width of the intumescent covering is completely
grounded on the size of structural steel that varies from 0.5 mm to 5 mm.
Sprayed cementitious or gypsum-based coating
It is argued that cement-based materials along with the lightweight aggregate are mainly
utilized for producing sprayed compendious based coatings that can be included in the fire
protection for structural steel (Qiang, Bijlaard, and Kolstein, 2012). The cost of this process
is mainly less and delivers a perfect fire defense rating up to four hours that indicates that
it has larger effectiveness. Moreover, it is a reliable process that may be adopted rapidly
and is suitable for multifaceted steel memberships and providing proper connections.
It is examined this process does not have effective strength to mechanical damages but it is
appropriate for protecting structural steel from the fire-related damages. The below figures
shows the construction and working of sprayed cementitious fire protection system:
Figure: Sprayed fire protection system
(Source: Radziszewska-Wolińska, 2013)

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Therefore, it is reported that the involvement of spray cementitious process can help the
industry to protect from fire damages and reduce the risks or errors associated with the
structural steel. The major point of this approach is that it has the potential to control and
address the risk factors that lead-related issues in structural steel. The spray request
method is wet and messy that can affect the agenda of the plan and performance
effectively. So, it is suggested that communities can adopt this method due to larger
effectiveness and less expensive and enhance the level of fire protection.
Concrete encasement
It is an effective fire protection system that can be used in structural steel and helps in the
enhancement of the performance of steel. Concrete encasement has the capability to reduce
the level of fire damages and provide reliable services to the companies (Sakkas, et al.,
2013). It has a small fraction of the fire defense market with additional techniques
including blockwork encasement. The key advantage of this method is that it provides
larger durability at the time of working that helps in the reduction of fire-related errors
appropriately. The below figure shows the construction of concrete encasement:

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Figure: Concrete encasement
(Source: Tao, Wang, and Uy, 2012)
In terms of cost concrete encasement is more expensive as compared to the lightweight
systems but it is more effective due to which companies can adopt this process. From
recent literature, it is argued that concrete encasement requires larger space and contains
a huge weight that may impact on the performance of the structural steel. Therefore, it is
reported that it decreases the impact damage for that reason as it contains warehouses and
external structures. The key drawback of this process is that it is a time-consuming process
due to which consumers are not moving towards the concrete encasement for protecting
structural steel from fire.
Flexible/Blanket system
Ullah, et al., (2014) examined that flexible fire defense has been implemented as a response
to the requirement for an effective included fire defense material. Using this kind of process
the level of fire protection can be enhanced and the construction process is very simple as
compared to the other methods. Fixing of a blanket is highlighted in the below figure:
Figure: Flexible fire protection system

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(Ullah, et al., 2014)
There are numerous advantages of this process for example, more effective, less expensive,
no hamper stage requires and more reliable process. The major disadvantage of this
process is that it cannot be utilized in visible steel for an appearance that may impact on
the performance of the system. From the previous investigation, it is found that the
utilization of flexible fire protection is an effective approach that can reduce the risks and
issues that lead to fire-related issues.
Conclusion
From this investigation, it can be concluded that fire protection methods help to reduce
fire-related problems in structural steel and manage overall performance. This research
provided information related to the structural steel and highlighted five fire protection
methods for enhancing the performance of structural steel. It is found that flexible, boards
and sprayed all these are less expensive methods and provide larger effectiveness due to
which companies can use processing for protecting structural steel from fire. The
conducted research provided depth information in the relation fire protection methods
used in the structural steel. It is identified that the key drawback of the concrete

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encasement is that it is more costly due to which companies are not moving towards this
process. On the other hand, a flexible fire protection system is the cheapest process and
does not require any additional stage by which companies can protect materials against
fire.

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References
Adewale, I.D., Zhang, H., Tian, G.Y. and Hope, T., (2013) Defect mapping of steel substrate
under a fire protection layer using EM NDE methods. In 2013 Far East Forum on
Nondestructive Evaluation/Testing: New Technology and Application, 12(6), pp. 166-171.
Carosio, F., Kochumalayil, J., Cuttica, F., Camino, G. and Berglund, L., (2015) Oriented Clay
Nano paper from Biobased Components Mechanisms for Superior Fire Protection
Properties. ACS applied materials & interfaces, 7(10), pp.5847-5856.
Franssen, J.M. and Real, P.V., (2012) Fire Design of Steel Structures: Eurocode 1: Actions on
structures; Part 1-2: General actions--Actions on structures exposed to fire; Eurocode 3:
Design of steel structures; Part 1-2: General rules--Structural fire design. John Wiley & Sons.
Guo, Q., Shi, K., Jia, Z. and Jeffers, A.E., (2013) Probabilistic evaluation of structural fire
resistance. Fire Technology, 49(3), pp.793-811.
Khorasani, N.E., Gardoni, P. and Garlock, M., (2015) Probabilistic fire analysis: material
models and evaluation of steel structural members. Journal of Structural
Engineering, 141(12), p.04015050.
Mariappan, T., (2016) Recent developments of intumescent fire protection coatings for
structural steel: A review. Journal of fire sciences, 34(2), pp.120-163.
Qiang, X., Bijlaard, F.S. and Kolstein, H., (2012) Post-fire mechanical properties of high
strength structural steels S460 and S690. Engineering Structures, 35(2), pp.1-10.
Radziszewska-Wolińska, J.M., (2013) Development of requirements for fire protection of
rolling stock in Poland and its comparison with EN 45545. Problemy Kolejnictwa.
Sakkas, K., Nomikos, P., Sofianos, A. and Panias, D., (2013) Inorganic polymeric materials
for passive fire protection of underground constructions. Fire and Materials, 37(2), pp.140-
150.