Thermo-mechanical Behaviour of Steel Beam-Column Shear Tab Connections Exposed to Localized Fires

The behaviour of steel beam-to-column connections under thermal loading is understudied. When exposed to a fire, the members within steel structures expand during heating and contract during cooling, inducing potentially large connection forces. Within Canadian design, there exists flexibility for designers to consider more advanced computational practices that can optimize the fire protection design and allow for safer and more resilient design. A series of fire tests were undertaken, with three different methanol pool fire durations, to understand the deformation behaviour of steel beam-to-column connections when a localized thermal exposure is applied to the centre span of the beam. It provides a preliminary understanding of how the forces and heat are dissipated into the connections. Preliminary recommendations for the development of the relevant Canadian design code, Annex K within CSA S16-19, have been outlined.