ABSTRACT
In classical fire resistance tests, building elements are considered as stand-alone elements. In a real fire, however, each building element interacts with its adjacent elements. This behaviour is also supported by numerical calculations [1]. Additionally, there is a current international trend for a change in the design procedure from Prescriptive Methods to Performance Based Design. This will require the development of special experimental techniques in order (i) to run a fire test in a more realistic manner and (ii) to get a set of continuously acquired data representing the mechanical boundary conditions and temperature field [2] of the specimen during the test.
