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Intumescent fire protection coatings are used to improve the fire resistance of steel members. Due to slender cross-sections typically used for tension members, high demands are placed on the effectiveness and reliability of the intumescent coatings. This paper describes real-scale fire tests of intumescent coatings applied to steel tension members with circular solid and hollow sections. First, the current regulations for the application of intumescent coatings on steel tension members are discussed. After that, a comparison between the foaming behaviour and failure mechanisms of intumescent coatings applied to steel tension members with different cross-sections and loading conditions is given. Next, the experimental setup and procedure of the performed fire tests are presented. In addition, the influences of various parameters on the performance of the intumescent coating are analysed, including the geometry of the steel profile, dry film thickness of the intumescent coating, load utilisation level as well as the orientation of the member. Based on the theoretical considerations and results of the fire tests, it is evidenced that mechanically loaded fire tests are essential to assess accurately the contribution of intumescent fire protection coatings to the fire resistance of steel tension members with circular solid sections.
Intumescent coatings are used in civil engineering to improve the fire resistance of steel constructions. Due to the thin coating thickness and the profile-following application, the architectural appearance of the steel structure can be preserved. EN 13381-8 provides regulations to determine the contribution to the fire resistance of intumescent coatings applied to steel beams and columns. The scope of this standard excludes tension members and steel members with solid sections. For products that have already been successfully tested and assessed on beams and columns, EN 13381-10 offers the possibility based on unloaded fire tests to extend the scope of application of intumescent coatings to tension bars with solid sections. This approach contradicts the national safety level in Germany, where mechanically loaded testing is mandatory. Therefore, a new part of the test standard series EN 13381 is currently developed to enable the application of intumescent coatings on steel tension bars with solid section based on mechanically loaded fire tests. BAM has already carried out numerous fire tests on loaded steel tension members with intumescent coatings. Currently, in the BAM research project FIRESTEMIC, the influence of the steel bar orientation and the profile type on the thermal performance of intumescent coatings are investigated. Both questions concerning the thermal protection ability of intumescent coatings were analysed based on three different test sets, which were carried out in the tension furnace (Fig. 1a). The fire exposure corresponds to the standard temperature-time curve according to EN 1363-1.
This paper summarises the main findings from the fire tests conducted in the FIRESTEMIC project. The results serve as an experimental background for the proposal of the new standard. Regarding the bar orientation, a new test setup was developed and proposed for the new standard. The two tested commercial water-based intumescent coatings with applied dry film thickness from 1.5 mm to 2.5 mm showed only a slight dependence on the bar orientation. In terms of the steel profile type, circular and rectangular solid sections with identical section factor and applied dry film thickness were tested. It was observed that the circular solid bars with diameter 30 mm heat up faster compared to the solid rectangular bars with dimension 30×30 mm (Fig. 1b). Also at larger steel bars, i.e. diameter 40 mm and dimension 40×40 mm, the same trend occurred. Thus, it is recommended for the new test standard to allow a transfer of the test results from circular to rectangular solid sections. In addition, the paper will describe and explain the test and assessment procedure proposed for the newly developed standard.