Lateral Torsional Buckling Resistance and Design of High Strength Steel Beams Subjected to Nonuniform Temperature

The mechanical characteristics of high-strength steel (HSS) at high temperatures vary significantly from those of mild steel, so fire design regulations derived from mild steel cannot be transferred to HSS structures. Therefore, this paper investigates the fire resistance of beams made of HSSs, which will facilitate the design and application of HSS structures. Due to the heat dissipation of the concrete floor, steel beams are generally heated from three sides, and the temperature distribution in the steel beam cross-section is nonuniform. For such cases, the fire resistance of HSS beams is assessed using finite element models (FEMs) with nonuniform temperature distribution. A Ramberg–Osgood model was used to predict stress–strain relationships of Q460, Q690, and Q960 HSSs at elevated temperatures, and the model was verified by material tests. In the FEM, the proposed stress–strain relationships of HSSs at elevated temperatures, initial geometric imperfections and residual stress are considered for better accuracy. After verifying the established model against experimental results, the influence of nonuniform temperature distribution, load pattern, steel grade, and slenderness ratio on the resistance of HSS beams is investigated by conducting parametric analyses using the verified FEM. It is found that the critical bending moment of steel beams at elevated temperatures associated with lateral-torsional buckling highly depends on the reduction of elastic modulus of steel. By comparing FEM results with EN 1993-1-2, it is evident that EN 1993-1-2 is unsuitable for assessing the fire resistance of HSS beams. Therefore, the expression specified in EN 1993-1-2 is modified by fitting the finite analysis results to more accurately evaluate the fire resistance of HSS beams considering the nonuniform temperature distribution.