ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book presents the general requirements of fire safety and, in particular, fire resistance, the implications for thin-walled steel construction, methods of evaluating fire resistance of thin-walled steel structures. It presents applications of thin-walled steel structures. The book introduces different types of thin-walled steel structures, and focuses on recent innovations. It presents fire resistance tests of thin-walled steel construction. The book provides guidance on the performance of different types of construction and how detailing affects fire resistance/performance. It presents various aspects of simplified modelling of fire resistance for thin-walled steel construction, including an introduction to fire behaviour and heat transfer modelling, guidance on the main features of heat transfer in thin-walled steel construction and how to simplify thin-walled steel construction for heat transfer modelling, and important features of modelling thin-walled steel structures at elevated temperatures.
