Refined plastic hinge analysis of steel frames under fire

This paper presents an effective, reliable and accurate method for prediction of structural behaviour of steel frames at elevated temperature. The refined plastic hinge method, which has been used successfully in the second-order elasto-plastic analysis of steel frames at ambient conditions, is adopted here to allow for time-independent fire effects. In contrast to the existing rigorous finite element programs, the present method uses the advanced analysis technique that provides a simple and reliable means for practical study of the behaviour of steel frames at elevated temperature by a limiting stress model. The present method is validated against other test and numerical results.