Localized fire in probabilistic structural fire engineering – an application of the Eurocode approach

Purpose The aim of the study is to investigate the applicability of the new Eurocode localized fire model for the derivation of hazard functions. Moreover, transient analysis is introduced in the paper to refer to intensity measures (IM) to design parameters defined in the time domain. Design/methodology/approach The study employs a frequentist approach approximated with the simple Monte Carlo (SMC) technique for the assessment of IM. The new Eurocode localized fire model was broadly discussed and then used as a deterministic model for SMC with net heat flux and steel temperatures as output variables. The sensitivity of the model was evaluated with the Spearman rank. Findings The results reveal that a localized fire model may be useful and, in some topologies, even more appropriate than widely adopted gas temperature curves. The model is highly sensitive to changes in the rate of fire growth and the distance between the fire axis and the structural element. Changes in massivity or utilization factor do not affect the final results that much. Originality/value This research fills some of the unexplored niches in the probabilistic structural fire engineering (PSFE) framework and presents its application. The study offers a new perspective on the assessment of IM in probabilistic frameworks with great practical potential in structural safety engineering.