The fire-risks of cost-optimized steel structures: Fire-resistant and hot-rolled carbon steel

This work studies the behaviour of a steel portal frame selection under fire exposure, considering both span lengths and fire exposure times as variables. Such structures combine carbon steel (S275), fireproof micro-alloyed steel (FR), and coatings of intumescent paint with variable thicknesses, improving thereby the flame retardant behaviour of the steel structure. Thus, the main contribution of this study is the optimization of the portal frames by combining both steels, analysing the resulting costs influence on the final dimensions. Besides, the topological optimization of each steel component within the structure is also defined, in accordance with the following variables: weather conditions, span, paint thickness, and cost of steel. The results mainly confirmed that using both FR and S275 grades with intumescent painting is the Pareto optimum when considering performance, feasibility and costs of such portal frames widely used for industrial facilities.