In Brazil, the passive protection of steel structures costs between 15% and 30% of the total cost of the structure and may have a significant impact on the competitiveness of steel as building structural material, (Claret, 2000). The technique of structural partial fire protection offers an alternative solution for this problem. In this work, a parametric method for temperature distribution in partially protected steel profiles in a fire situation is presented. The formulation is based on heat transferred by radiation, convection and conduction in a section not homogeneously heated in the fire. Comparative analyses with methods based on finite elements are presented. The conclusions indicate that the presented formulation is sufficiently representative of the profile temperatures in fire as obtained through finite element method and can be used used in the scope of simplified design methods.
Fire engineering; thermal analysis; partial fire protection; steel structures
