The research objective of this Grant Opportunity for Academic Liaison with Industry (GOALI) project is to construct a probabilistic computational framework for modeling response of aluminum structure in buildings subjected to fire. The results can have a profound impact on the design and analysis practices for aluminum structures (and ductile metal structures in general) by enabling probabilistically informed standards that account for variability in nonlinear material responses. Current methods employing simplistic safety factors apply a large penalty to account for fire risk. The processes developed through this work can result in significant cost saving for numerous industries ranging from civil structural design to automotive, aircraft, and naval vessel design. The research will also afford unique educational opportunities to high school students in the Baltimore area through joint academic-industry mentorship. Graduate students involved in the project will benefit from professional exchange through internship at the industry partner.
This project will serve to enhance understanding of the material response of aluminum under simultaneous stress and high temperature by quantifying the uncertainties associated with both the materials and the fire events. The research plan includes assessment of uncertainties at the material level as well as uncertainties related to temperature rate and fire exposure time. The goal is to develop probabilistic reliability analysis that can be incorporated in to finite element software. The program will couple state-of-the-art deterministic computational tools developed by the industry partner which have been shown to accurately model the creep rupture and elastoplastic failure of ductile metals with uncertainty quantification, stochastic simulation, and structural reliability methods developed at the institution. Validation of the analytical model will be done using the previously conducted experimental data available from other sources.
