Advisor(s)
Abstract(s)
The light steel frame walls are mostly used for non-load bearing applications. The light steel
framed walls are made with studs and tracks that require fire protection, normally achieved by
single plasterboard, by composite protection layers or by insulation of the cavity. The partition
walls are fire rated to resist by integrity and insulation. Seven small-scale specimens were tested
to define the fire resistance of non-load bearing light steel frame walls made with different materials.
All tests were validated using two-dimensional numerical models, based on the finite-element
method, the finite-volume method and hybrid finite-element method. A good agreement was
achieved between the numerical and the experimental results from fire tests. The fire resistance
increases with the number of studs and also with the thickness of the protection layers. The
hybrid finite-element method solution method looks to be the best approximation model to predict
fire resistance.
Description
Keywords
Composite layers Fire resistance Fire tests light steel frame walls numerical simulation
Citation
Khetata, Seddik M.; Piloto, P.A.G.; Gavilán, Ana B.R. (2020). Fire resistance of composite non-load bearing light steel framing walls. Journal of Fire Sciences. ISSN 0734-9041. 38:2, p. 136-155