ABSTRACT
At present determining the fire resistance of complete structures by calculation is only being carried out by a few designers who have close links with researchers. As a consequence the complexities of analysing heated structures and the associated numerical modelling requirements are not widely appreciated. This means designers who wish to analyse heated structures but who do not have links to the research community are forced to conduct analyses in an ad hoc manner with the possibility of key phenomena not being considered. The difficulties of such a situation have been appreciated for some time in, for example, the field of shell structures. As a result this area now has design guidance (Rotter 2002) and codes (CEN 2007) that give a framework for using numerical analyses in the design process. Currently there is no such guidance in area of structures in fire.
