Comparative Analysis of Fire Resistance in Steel Columns Insulated with Sustainable Biomaterials

This paper investigates the influence of fire protection systems and insulation materials on the thermal performance of steel columns. An unprotected column and several columns insulated with different fire protection materials were analyzed using the SAFIR® (2022 version) and ABAQUS simulation (2017 Version). Thermal and mechanical properties of steel were defined according to Eurocode (EC3), and fire exposure was simulated following the ISO-834 standard fire. The following two insulation systems were considered: contour encasement and box encasement. Results show that, for identical material properties and thickness, box encasement significantly slows the temperature rise compared to contour encasement. Vegetable-based fire protection materials such as wood fiber, sheep wool, and expanded cork reduced the steel temperature to 400 °C for up to 80 min and extended fire resistance of steel columns 40 to 310 min. These findings demonstrate that such insulation materials can markedly enhance the fire performance and structural integrity of steel columns, offering a sustainable and effective solution to fire protection.