The knowledge about the steel construction in fire(2)

This has been accompanied by the development of a competitive and efficient fire protection industry, which has invested hugely in research and development and which delivers effective materials at a fraction of the costs of one or two decades ago. This can be compared with alternatives such as reinforced concrete, where the rules for fire are based on tests carried out over fifty years ago and where more recent testing has demonstrated significant shortcomings.

 

 

Even with that some beams/columns are also wrapped with several layers of type x fire rated drywall. Multi story steel buildings usually have lightweight concrete poured over steel decking for all floors above the ground floor. Any and all penetrations in these concrete floors must be sealed around to stop fire and smoke from spreading from one floor to the next, and fire rated doors at all stairways to each floor. Even ductwork that runs to other floors must have fire rated dampers that close if signaled by a sensor, this stops smoke/fire from spreading through the ductwork. Sprinkler systems are usually required in new structures that exceed at pre-determined square footage by the state you are in.