The Behavior of Passive Fire Protection Materials Used for Fire Protection of Steel Structures in Standard, Hydrocarbon, and Jet Fire Exposure

Abstract

Structural steel, when exposed to fire, loses its tensile strength and ability to resist deformation. Both organic and inorganic material-based passive fire protection systems, are being traditionally used to protect steel structures in such scenarios. This study focused on comparing the performance of the same organic and inorganic coatings in standard fire, hydrocarbon fire, and jet fire conditions. Standard, hydrocarbon fire, and jet fire experiments were carried out in full-scale fire resistance furnaces as per ASTM E-119, UL 1709, and ISO 22899-1 respectively. From the results, it was observed that both organic and inorganic materials tend to underperform in jet fire scenarios, when compared with standard and hydrocarbon fire due to the impingement/turbulence effect and the thermo-mechanical effect caused by the velocity of the gas.