Experimental and Computational Investigation of Composite Beam Response to Fire

This thesis presents three experimental studies on composite floor beams in fire that were performed in the Lehigh University ATLSS Furnace. The experiments include a predesigned W8x10 beam with limited existing damage subject to a realistic parametric fire curve with a decay phase, and two W12x26 beams – one bare steel and one insulated with a spray on fire resistant material - designed and tested with an E119 standard fire curve. The complete design and record of the tests are provided, including data on specimen temperatures and deflections.SAFIR 2016 was used to model the systems thermal and structural behavior at various levels of intensity. 2D beam, 3D beam, and 3D shell models were created to test the level of accuracy and predictability of the models. The 2D structural models were proven to be incapable of predicting accurate behavior of a composite system. MATLAB 2015 was used to verify temperature predictions using a three lumped mass calculation approach, and was shown to equal or exceed the performance of the thermal finite element models.A parametric study was conducted using the results from the two W12x26 test beams. The lengths of these beams were extended from the 11'-0" able to be accommodated in the furnace out to 15-0"', 20'-0", 25'-0", and 30'-0" to study how the realistic lengths change the behavior of the tests. Validated SAFIR 3D beam and shell models were used to predict behavior, and show the differences and values between the two types of models.