Case Studies in Thermal Engineering 13 (2019) 100361

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Case Studies in Thermal Engineering

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/csite

Numerical evaluation of the effects of fire on steel connections; Part

T
2: Model results
⁎ ⁎
Rohola Rahnavard , Robert J. Thomas
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Clarkson University, Potsdam, NY, USA

A R T IC LE I N F O ABS TRA CT

Keywords: The resistance of beam-to-column connections to fire is an important consideration for the design
Moment connections of steel moment frames. The authors seek to study the effect of fire on such connections using
Finite element analysis finite element modeling in ABAQUS. The previously published first part of this paper detailed and
Bolted tee validated the simulation technique by comparing model results to experimental results reported
Temperature
elsewhere in the literature. This, the second part of the paper, seeks to demonstrate the perfor-
Cover plate connection
mance of four types of connections exposed to thermal loading: (1) bolted end plate, (2) bolted
cover plate, (3) bolted tee, and (4) welded cover plate. A numerical study was performed to
quantify the effects of thermal loading on beam buckling, displacement, rotation, connection
stiffness, and moment-rotation behavior at temperatures between 20 and 900 °C. The bolted end
plate connection exhibited the highest resistance to thermal loading with a significantly lower
degree of degradation in connection performance compared to the other three connection types.

1. Introduction

Modern steel structures must be resilient to a full spectrum of loads, including fire. In recent years, estimation of the resistance of
steel connections to fire or thermal loading has become an issue of great importance. A great deal of research has been undertaken in
recent years to better understand the behavior of structures in fire conditions and, further, to provide design guidelines for estimating
the amount of fire resistance in structures. This has been accompanied by the development of credible design regulations such as
Eurocode [1,2] and AISC [3]. This paper uses a numerical technique to study the performance of various steel column-to-beam
connections to fire.
Several studies have investigated similar topics, both experimentally and numerically [4]. Memari and Mahmoud [5] evaluated
SAC steel frames with reduced beam section moment connections under different fire scenarios. Their research showed that overall,
beams of the MRFs reached the design limit state at the range of 400–600 °C during the heating phase. Moreover, in the cooling
phase, the beams reached the tensile axial force limit state at a range of 400–600 °C. Song et al. [6] presented experiments and
analyses on eight flange-welded/web-bolted steel I-beam to hollow tubular column connections under fire. Their research discussed
the effects of seismic induced damage on fire resistance of flange-welded/web-bolted steel I-beam to hollow tubular column con-
nections. Silva et al. [7] conducted a buckling analysis of steel frames exposed to natural fire. They conducted a study to compare the
strength calculations of steel frame under the effect of fires in two simple and advanced calculations. Their research demonstrated
that the simple design methods are conservative when compared to the use of more advanced calculations by means of the finite
element method (FEM). Fischer and Varma [8] conducted a parametric studies and design on the fire resilience of composite beams

⁎
Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: rahnavr@clarkson.edu (R. Rahnavard), rthomas@clarkson.edu (R.J. Thomas).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.csite.2018.11.012
Received 8 November 2018; Received in revised form 18 November 2018; Accepted 19 November 2018
Available online 29 November 2018
2214-157X/ © 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/BY/4.0/).
R. Rahnavard, R.J. Thomas Case Studies in Thermal Engineering 13 (2019) 100361

Fig. 1. Model geometry.

Table 1
Model parameters.
Model Connection

Geometry Plate-column Plate-beam

End plate PL320 × 200 × 20 4 bolts in 2 rows –

Bolted tee PL200 × 200 × 25 × 250 × 200 × 10 4 bolts in 2 rows 6 bolts in two rows
Bolted cover plate Plate 340 × 150 × 10 CJP 10 weld 10 bolts in 2 rows
Welded cover plate Plate 250 × 130 × 20 CJP 20 weld –

with simple connections. Their results show that consideration of slab continuity will improve the behavior of composite beams in
fire conditions. In recent years, extensive research has been carried out on steel connections [9–23]. Rahnavard and Thomas in-
vestigated a variety of numerical modeling methods for screw and welded joints under the effects of fire [12]. In their study, three
connections of bolted flush end plate, bolted extended end plate, and welded connection were modeled using ABAQUS [13] and
verified by experimental results
A numerical evaluation on single bolted shear connections of cold-formed stainless steel was conducted by Cai and Young [14].
Their results showed that modified design rules provides a more correct answer compared to the bearing strengths method [14].
Jabotian and Hantouche [15] investigated the influence of steel thermal creep on the behavior of shear tab beam-column connections
under the effect of fire. Their results show that considering creep plays very important and key role in the estimation of shear tab
connections response under the effect of fire [15]. Zhu and Li [16] investigated the behavior of welded steel moment connection after
fire scenario. The results showed that heating and cooling effects on welded steel moment connections and a 20% reduction in welded
steel moment connection capacity for post-heat was proposed [16]. Wald et al. [17] proposed experimental models for rigid end plate
connections and compared the failure mode and shift of the beam centers in these models [17]. Other studies focused on the cooling
phase of fire and used an artificial neural network to describe the stress-strain relations of steel connections exposed to fire [18]. An
experimental study on the behavior of bolted T connection conducted by Sagiroglu suggested that early fracture in connections that
have been exposed to fire is likely [19].
Part 1 of this paper [12] described the simulation technique as applied in ABAQUS. Further, that paper compared model results
with experimental results reported by Wald [17] and Qiang et al. [22] in order to validate the numerical technique. The FEM results
closely matched the reported experimental results, suggesting that the technique has good accuracy and the results are indicative of
real-world performance. This paper seeks to use the aforementioned modeling technique to compare the performance of four
common connection types in a fire scenario. Connection types studies here include bolted end plate, bolted cover plate, bolted tee,
and welded cover plate connections. Properties of interest include the tendency to undergo vertical lateral buckling, the maximum
beam deflection, the moment-rotation behavior, the connection stiffness, and the moment capacity. The results presented here
provide useful information on the comparative performance of different connection types that will help designers in the selection of
connections that offer the best performance in a fire scenario.

2. Finite element modeling

The details and validation of the finite element modeling (FEM) procedure are given in the first part of this paper [12]. The most

2
R. Rahnavard, R.J. Thomas Case Studies in Thermal Engineering 13 (2019) 100361

(a) Bolted end plate

(b) Bolted cover plate

(c) Bolted tee

(d) Welded cover plate

Fig. 2. Meshed model geometry.

important of these details are repeated here for the reader's convenience.
Fig. 1 shows the basic model geometry, where the connection of interest is between the HEA300 column and the IPE300 beam.
The column height length was 2.4 m and the beam length 5.7 m. Only half the problem was modeled, taking advantage of the plane of
symmetry noted on the figure. Bolted end plate, bolted cover plate, bolted tee, and welded cover plate connections were modeled in
ABAQUS. The connection details are given in Table 1 and the meshed models are illustrated in Fig. 2. For bolted end plate con-
nections, PL320 × 200 × 20 mm end plates were connected to beam webs and flanges by pretensioned bolts and 10 mm thick

3
R. Rahnavard, R.J. Thomas Case Studies in Thermal Engineering 13 (2019) 100361

Table 2
Mechanical properties.
Temperature (°C) Structural steel Bolt Weld

E (Gpa) Fy (Mpa) Fu (Mpa) E (Gpa) Fy (Mpa) Fu (Mpa) E (Gpa) Fy (Mpa) Fu (Mpa)

20 210 388 494 210 600 800 210 640 850

100 192 374 490 192 561 783 192 590 830
200 189 439 571 189 655 913 189 690 874
300 177 392 570 177 592 910 177 630 870
400 168 361 478 168 542 760 168 595 811
500 124 318 371 124 477 595 124 523 646
600 105 215 222 105 322 355 105 380 400
700 39 118 147 39 178 236 39 289 298
800 18 48 51 18 70 86 18 130 145
900 2 48 37 2 69 60 2 123 115
1000 1 27 29 1 52 46 1 90 100

complete joint penetration (CJP) welds and to columns by four 8.8 M bolts in two rows as shown in Fig. 2(a). For bolted cover plate
connections, two PL340 × 150 × 10 mm cover plates were connected to column flanges by pretensioned bolts and 10 mm thick CJP
welds and to beam flanges by 10 8.8 M bolts as shown in Fig. 2(b). For bolted tee connections, two
T200 × 200 × 25 × 250 × 200 × 10 mm tee stubs were connected to column flanges by four 8.8 M bolts in two rows and to beams
flanges by six 8.8 M bolts as shown in Fig. 2(c). Finally, for welded cover plate connections, two PL250 × 130 × 20 mm cover plates
were connected to column flanges by 20 mm thick CJP welds and to beam flanges by groove welds as shown in Fig. 2(d).
The material model considered a bilinear stress-strain relationship with hardening where the modulus of elasticity, yield stress,
and ultimate stress were dependent on temperature as shown in Table 2. The model structure was subjected to a gravity load of 20 kN
applied at the midspan of the IPE300 beam. The gravity load was applied first, followed by gradual application of the thermal load. In
some cases, Connections were modeled using C3D8T (field-variable-dependent conductivity) elements with eight nodes. Contact was
modeled as surface-to-surface contact without penetration. Friction was modeled using the Coulomb model with friction coefficient of
0.2. Welded connections were modeled using tie constraints.

3. Results and discussion

This section details the modeling results in terms of lateral buckling, vertical displacement, rotation, stiffness, and moment
capacity.

3.1. Lateral buckling

Resistance to out-of-plane deformation or lateral buckling is a significant design parameter for connections. Fig. 3 shows the
maximum out-of-plane deformation for each connection type. As shown in Fig. 3(a), minimal lateral buckling was observed in the
bolted end plate connection. Meanwhile, significant vertical lateral buckling was observed in the other three connection types, as
shown in Fig. 3(b)-(d).

3.2. 3.2. Beam vertical displacement

Table 3 lists the maximum vertical displacement in the beam with each connection type when the gravity load was applied at
various temperatures. A set is defined in the middle of the beam to obtain vertical displacement. The set name is X symmetry, which is
shown in Fig. 1. In the table, UT denotes the maximum vertical beam displacement when loaded at temperature T and U * denotes the
maximum displacement when the beam was heated to 900 °C but the connection was shielded from heat (as described in [12]).
Maximum displacement at ambient temperature ranged from about 30 mm for bolted tee connections—the stiffest of the four con-
nection types analyzed here—to about 34 mm for bolted cover plate connections. In order to account for these differences in con-
nection stiffness, the table also reports the ratio of displacements at various temperatures.
In most cases, increasing the temperature from 20° to 225 °C resulted in an increase in vertical displacement of about 50%.
However, the bolted tee connection exhibited a meager 10% increase in deflection. At 450 °C, the observed deflection with bolted
cover plate, bolted tee, and welded cover plate connections was about double that at ambient temperature; meanwhile the deflection
with bolted end plate connections was more than five times that at ambient temperature. At 900 °C, the deflection with bolted end
plate, bolted cover plate, and welded cover plate connections was about 13 times that at ambient temperature, but the deflection with
bolted tee connections was about 16 times that at ambient temperature. So, while the bolted tee connection deflected the least at the
lower temperatures (20, 225, and 450 °C), it experienced the most deflection at full temperature (900 °C). Bolted end plate con-
nections exhibited the smallest deflections at full temperature. Shielding connections from heat reduced the degradation in stiffness
by up to 20%.

4
R. Rahnavard, R.J. Thomas Case Studies in Thermal Engineering 13 (2019) 100361

(a) End plate

(b) Bolted cover plate

(c) Bolted tee

(d) Welded cover plate

Fig. 3. Out-of-plane buckling in beam web (dimensions are mm).

5
R. Rahnavard, R.J. Thomas Case Studies in Thermal Engineering 13 (2019) 100361

Table 3
Maximum vertical displacement vs. temperature.
Model U20 U225 U450 U900 U* U225 U450 U900 U*
U20 U20 U20 U20
mm

Bolted end plate 33.1 48.7 187.7 417.6 340.3 1.47 5.67 12.61 0.81
Bolted cover plate 34.2 51.1 76.4 454.4 390.6 1.49 2.23 13.28 0.86
Bolted tee 30.2 33.4 66 481.3 419.1 1.1 2.18 15.93 0.87
Welded cover plate 33 48 72 449.1 370 1.45 2.18 13.6 0.82

Fig. 4. Rotation vs. temperature.

Table 4
Connection stiffness vs. temperature.
Model K20 K50 K100 K200 K300 K900 K50 K100 K200 K300 K900
kN m rad−1 K20 K20 K20 K20 K20

End plate 89.1 93.2 38.5 34.6 34.5 34.5 1.04 0.43 0.39 0.38 0.38
Bolted cover plate 72.2 43.1 24.3 10.65 10.65 10.65 0.6 0.34 0.15 0.15 0.15
Bolted tee joint 182 182 182 143.8 67.8 68.4 1 1 0.79 0.37 0.38
Welded cover plate 79 46.5 35.1 28 27.1 27.1 0.59 0.44 0.35 0.34 0.34

3.3. Beam rotation

Fig. 4 shows the effect of temperature on beam rotation when the temperature was gradually increased with the gravity load
applied. The rotation at ambient temperature varied from about 10–25 mrad and was mostly constant until the temperature reached
50 or 100 °C (depending on the connection type). With bolted end plate connections, rotation increased rapidly from about 10 mrad
at 50 °C to about 120 mrad at 150 °C, then increased more slowly to about 170 mrad at 400 °C. The behavior with bolted end plate
connections was remarkably similar, except the temperature at which these increases occurred were 25–50 °C higher, and the ulti-
mate rotation was only about 140 mrad. Bolted cover plate and bolted tee connections exhibited much better resistance to increased
temperature, at least in terms of observed beam rotation. With bolted cover plate connections, the rotation increased from about
10 mrad at 50 °C to about 40 mrad at 400 °C, and then to an ultimate value of about 150 mrad at 750 °C. With bolted tee connections,
the rotation increased to an ultimate value of about 300 mrad at 650 °C. Overall, bolted cover plate connections exhibited the best
thermal resistance in this capacity.

3.4. Connection stiffness

The influence of thermal loading on connections stiffness is another important parameter for design. According to Euro Code 3,
Part 1.2 [1], and draft 2 of Part 1.8 [2], the concentration of mass delays its temperature increase within the joint areas, compared to
the connection members, thereby suggesting that the joints are disregarded under fire conditions. However, the numerical findings
underline the importance of evaluating the behavior of steel connections. Connection stiffness is defined according to Eqs. (1) and (2)
[1,2]:
Mb
K=
Δθr (1)
t b
⎛ Δbf − Δbf ⎞ Δt − Δbcw ⎞
Δθr = θrb − θrc = tan−1 ⎜ ⎟ − tan−1 ⎜⎛ cw ⎟
hbf ⎝ hbf ⎠ (2)
⎝ ⎠

6
R. Rahnavard, R.J. Thomas Case Studies in Thermal Engineering 13 (2019) 100361

(a) Bolted end plate

(b) Bolted cover plate

(c) Bolted tee

(d) Welded cover plate

Fig. 5. Moment-rotation behavior at various temperatures.

θrb is the beam rotation, θrc is the column rotation, Δbbf is the horizontal displacement of the middle point of lower flange of beam to
the middle point of beam web in beam-to-column connection, Δtbf is the horizontal displacement of the middle point of upper flange
of beam to the middle point of beam web in beam-to-column connection, Δbcw is the horizontal displacement of the middle point of

7
R. Rahnavard, R.J. Thomas Case Studies in Thermal Engineering 13 (2019) 100361

Table 5
Moment capacity vs. temperature.
Model M20 M50 M100 M300 M50 M100 M300
M20 M20 M20
kN m

Bolted end plate 261 261 198 128 1 0.75 0.49

Bolted cover plate 270 175.5 122.6 67.5 0.65 0.44 0.35
Bolted tee 269 261 228 185 0.97 0.85 0.69
Welded cover plate 273 218.8 139.1 100 0.8 0.51 0.38

lower flange of beam at the center of column, ∆tcw is the horizontal displacement of the middle point of upper flange of beam at the
center of column, and hbf is the center distance to the center of beam flanges.
Table 4 lists the connection stiffness, where KT is the connection stiffness at temperature T . Overall, bolted and plate and bolted
tee connections retained the greatest proportion of their initial stiffness at full temperature. With bolted end plate connections, the
stiffness increased by 4% from 20° to 50 °C and then decreased to 35–40% of its initial value at higher temperatures from 100° to
900°C. Bolted tee connections exhibited much better performance at lower temperature, retaining all of their stiffness up to 100 °C
and nearly 80% of their stiffness at 200 °C. Meanwhile, bolted and welded cover plate connections exhibited only 60% of their initial
stiffness at 50 °C and 35–45% of their initial stiffness at 100 °C. Welded cover plate connections performed slightly better than their
bolted counterparts at full temperature (900 °C). Overall, the best resistance to fire in terms of connections stiffness was observed in
bolted tee connections.

3.5. Moment-rotation

Fig. 5 shows the moment-rotation behavior when a monotonic displacement was applied at the midspan of the IPE300 beam at
various temperatures. Table 5 lists the moment capacity for each case, which can also be observed in the figure. With bolted end plate
connections, there was no decrease in the moment capacity or the stiffness when the temperature increased from 20° to 50°C.
However, there was a slight decrease in stiffness and a 25% reduction in moment capacity when the temperature increased to 100 °C.
The decrease in moment capacity was closer to 50% when the temperature increased to 300 °C. With bolted cover plate connections,
there was a slight decrease in stiffness and a 35% decrease in moment capacity when the temperature increased from 20° to 50°C.
There was a further decrease to about 40% of the initial moment capacity when the temperature increased to 100 °C, and the moment
capacity was similar at 300 °C. With bolted tee connections, most of the moment capacity was preserved at 50 °C and there were 15%
and 30% reductions at 100 and 300 °C, respectively. Finally, with welded cover plate connections the moment capacities were
reduced by about 20%, 50%, and 60% at 50, 100, and 300 °C. Overall, the best performance was observed for bolted tee connections,
with bolted end plate connections following closely behind.

4. Conclusions

In an attempt to compare the resilience of various types of steel connections to fire, this paper presented the results of a numerical
study on the performance of four types of structural steel beam-column connections to thermal loading. The previously published first
part of this paper demonstrated and validated the simulation technique in ABAQUS. This part of the paper compared the connection
performance of four types of steel connections: bolted end plate, bolted cover plate, bolted tee, and welded cover plate. The con-
nections were subjected to thermal loading between 20 and 900 °C. The effects of increased temperature on beam buckling behavior,
beam displacement and rotation, connection stiffness, and moment-rotation behavior were elucidated. The following conclusions are
drawn based on the results of the numerical study:

1. Vertical lateral buckling was observed with bolted cover plate, bolted tee, and welded cover plate connections, but not with bolted
end plate connections.
2. In terms of the greatest resistance to increased deflection, bolted tee connections exhibited the best performance at low tem-
perature (225 °C) but the worst performance at full temperature (900 °C). Bolted end plate connections performed best at full
temperature.
3. Bolted tee and bolted cover plate connections performed best in terms of beam rotation behavior.
4. Bolted tee and bolted end plate connections performed best in terms of connection stiffness. The former retained its full initial
stiffness up to 100 °C, 80% at 200 °C and nearly 40% up to 900 °C. The latter performed nearly as well, retaining around 40% of its
initial stiffness at temperatures between 100 and 900 °C.
5. Bolted end plate connections performed best in terms of moment-rotation behavior, retaining their full initial moment capacity at
50 °C, 75% at 100 °C, and 50% at 300 °C.
6. Overall, bolted end plates exhibited the greatest resistance to fire loading.

Conflict of interest

The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

8
R. Rahnavard, R.J. Thomas Case Studies in Thermal Engineering 13 (2019) 100361

References

[1] CEN, Eurocode 3: Design of Steel Structures, Part 1.2: General Rules – Structural fire design, European Committee for Standardization, Brussels, 2005.
[2] Eurocode 3, prEN-1993-1-8: 20, Part 1.8: Design of joints. Eurocode 3: Design of steel structures, draft2 rev, European Committee for Standardisation, Brussels,
Belgium, 2000.
[3] American Institute of Steel Construction. Manual of Steel Construction, 14th edition, 2010.
[4] M.A. Bradford, K.T. Luu, A. Heidarpour, Numerical studies of a steel beam in a frame sub-assembly at elevated temperatures, Constr. Maint. Struct. (2007).
[5] Mehrdad Memari, Hussam Mahmoud, Multi-resolution analysis of the SAC steel frames with RBS connections under fire, Fire Saf. J. 98 (2018) 90–108.
[6] Qian-Yi Song, Amin Heidarpour, Xiao-Ling Zhao, Lin-Hai Han, Post-earthquake fire performance of flange-welded/web-bolted steel I-beam to hollow column
tubular connections, Thin-Walled Struct. 116 (2017) 113–123.
[7] Thiago Silva, Martina Carić, Carlos Couto, Paulo Vila Real, Nuno Lopes, Davor Skejic, Buckling analysis of steel frames exposed to natural fire scenarios, J. Struct.
10 (2017) 76–88.
[8] Erica C. Fischer, Amit H. Varma, Fire resilience of composite beams with simple connections: parametric studies and design, J. Constr. Steel Res. 128 (2017)
119–135.
[9] Rohola Rahnavard, Navid Siahpolo, Mohammad Naghavi, Akbar Hassanipour, Analytical study of common rigid steel connections under the effect of heat, Adv.
Civil. Eng. 2014 (2014), https://doi.org/10.1155/2014/692323.
[10] R. Rahnavard, A. Hassanipour, N. Siahpolo, Analytical study on new types of reduced beam section moment connections affecting cyclic behavior, Case Stud.
Struct. Eng. 3 (2015) 33–51.
[11] Akbar Hassanipour, Rohola Rahnavard, Ali Mokhtari, Najaf Rahnavard, Numerical investigation on reduces web beam section moment connections under the
effectson cyclic loading, J. Multidiscip. Eng. Sci. Technol. 2 (8) (2015).
[12] Robert J. Rohola Rahnavard, Thomas, Numerical evaluation of the effects of fire on steel connections; Part 1: simulation Techniques, Case Stud. Therm. Eng. 12
(2018) 445–453.
[13] Abaqus user’s manual, 2011.
[14] Cai Yancheng, Ben Young, Fire resistance of stainless steel single shear bolted connections, Thin-Walled Struct. 130 (2018) 332–346.
[15] Hagop V. Jabotian, Elie G. Hantouche, Thermal creep effect on the behavior of shear tab connections due to fire temperatures, Fire Saf. J. 96 (2018) 74–92.
[16] Mei-Chun Zhua, L. Guo-Qiang, Behavior of beam-to-column welded connections in steel structures after fire, Procedia Eng. 210 (2017) 551–556.
[17] F. Wald, L. Sim˜oes da Silva, D.B. Moore, et al., Experimental behavior of a steel structure under natural fire, Fire Saf. J. 41 (7) (2006) 509–522.
[18] H. Yu, I.W. Burgess, J.B. Davison, R.J. Plank, Numerical simulation of bolted steel connections in fire using explicit dynamic analysis, J. Constr. Steel Res. 64 (5)
(2008) 515–525.
[19] Merve Sagiroglu, Experimental evaluation of the post-fire behavior of steel T component in the beam-to-column connection, Fire Saf. J. 96 (2018) 153–164.
[20] Rohola Rahnavard, Akbar Hassanipour, Ali Mounesi, Numerical study on important parameters of composite steel-concrete shear walls, J. Constr. Steel Res. 121
(2016) 441–456.
[21] Rohola Rahnavard, Akbar Hassanipour, Mohamed Suleiman, Ali Mokhtari, Evaluation on eccentrically braced frame with single and double shear panels, J.
Build. Eng. 10 (2017) 13–25.
[22] Zhua Mei-Chun, L. Guo-Qiang, Behavior of beam-to-column welded connections in steel structures after fire, Procedia Eng. 210 (2017) 551–556.
[23] Rohola Rahnavard, Maziyar Taghi Khaje, Akbar Hassanipour, Navid Siahpolo, Parametric study of seismic performance of steel bridges pier rehabilitated with
composite connection, J. Struct. Constr. Eng. (2017), https://doi.org/10.22065/JSCE.2017.92128.1259.