Numerical Simulation of the Thermal and Mechanical Behavior of Cold-Formed Steel Composite Floor under Fire Conditions

Cold-formed steel (CFS) building structures are generally acknowledged as green and industrialized buildings, and the fire resistance behavior has become an important issue. Previous studies were mainly to investigate the fire performance of load-bearing CFS walls lined with different panels. Based on the finite element (FE) software package, ABAQUS, this paper presented a numerical simulation on a new CFS channel joist – ALC (autoclaved lightweight concrete) composite floor under fire conditions. Finally, the present numerical simulation of CFS composite floor in fire was compared with previous full-scaled fire experiments of such floors. The results showed that the temperature progression of the CFS floor section was well predicted with acceptable accuracy. The time-dependent vertical deflection of the CFS floor was well described and the fire resistance time of CFS floor system was well predicted with an underestimation of less than 6% and an overestimation of less than 10%