Reinstatement of Fire-Damaged Structures: Fid-Bau Portal

Reinstatement of Fire-Damaged Structures

Lennon, Tom / Lalu, Octavian

Although the title of this chapter is Reinstatement of Fire-Damaged Structures it really covers the three main stages involved in making detailed recommendations of how to deal with structural damage arising from a fire. These stages are initial inspection, assessment and finally reinstatement where it is feasible and desirable. The target audience is those structural engineers or other building professionals involved in the assessment of damage and in making recommendations relating to repair and reinstatement and in determining the nature and extent of any repairs required.

All structural materials suffer damage as a result of exposure to severe fires. In assessing the nature and extent of fire damage to a structure there are certain basic principles that apply although the precise nature of the methodology employed will be dependent on a number of parameters not least of which is the nature of the structural framing material itself. Aside from the direct costs of demolishing, repairing, reinstating or rebuilding following damage by a fire there are often consequential losses through disruption of business that may outweigh the initial capital costs associated with dealing with the initial incident. For this reason there is often a need for the initial assessment and subsequent report to be completed within as short a timescale as possible to maintain business continuity and minimize the economic loss. Although guidance is available (and referenced to in this chapter) to the professionals involved in the assessment of fire-damaged structures, it is often material specific. This chapter considers both the general principles of structural fire investigation and brings together guidance covering the most commonly used structural materials (steel, concrete, timber and masonry). The chapter deals only with damage to the load-bearing structure of the building and does not directly consider other issues such as damage to services, the impact of smoke damage to the building or the difficulties of eradicating unpleasant odours following a serious fire incident.

The assessment and inspection of fire-damaged structures is a specialist discipline. The information presented in this chapter is intended to provide background information, general guidance and references for structural engineers. In many cases the best approach is to seek specialist advice. Nonetheless, many of the basic concepts of structural fire engineering covered in this book lend themselves to this specialist discipline (e.g. understanding of fire effects due to restrained thermal expansion/contraction).