Estruturas de concreto em situação de incêndio: estudo de caso

Abstract

The fire is present in men’s life since the Palaeolithic period. Uncountable benefits were brought to the civilizations through the domain of the fire, especially when the assurance of humanity’s survival is concerned. Nowadays, with due knowledge developed since that time, it is known that the inadequate use of fire may also cause problems and worries. In view of this, the verifications in fire situations are necessary to evaluate whether the exposition to high temperatures would compromise the structure. In case there is structural compromise, knowing if the structure has the requirements which guarantee sufficient time for a safe evacuation. In this context, this work presents a case study to verify the beams and slabs from a structure of reinforced concrete in fire situations. Owing to this, the objective is to analyse the UNIPAMPA building located in the Alegrete Campus and verify whether it is in accordance with the minimum requirements stablished by the tabular method and the equivalent time method, available in NBR 15200 (2012) and NBR 14432 (2001). A set of beams and slabs with different characteristics were chosen to analyze whether the structure is in accordance with the standards specifications. The verification of the tabular method is done first as it does not take into consideration any kind of protection against fire, in those cases which it was not possible to obtain all the needed validations, the equivalent time method was used to obtain a new analysis and new results to the structural components. Therefore, the use of these two methodologies is emphasized as they enabled the necessary verifications for the present work. Keywords: fire; verification; tabular method; equivalent time method