The research objective of this collaborative project is to develop structural performance-based fire resistant design guidelines for the composite floor systems and connections of steel building structures. The project will create fundamental knowledge and technologies that will be used to develop these guidelines. The project involves experimental investigations, development and calibration of numerical models and analytical approaches, and experimental and analytical parametric studies. Large-scale experiments on composite floor systems under standard and realistic fire will be conducted at Michigan State University (MSU) and Purdue University (PU), respectively. Deliverables include database of experimental results and metadata, calibrated analytical tools and approaches, catalog of results from parametric studies, documentation and dissemination of research results, and education of current and future generations of engineers in the science of structural fire engineering. The experimental and analytical results will be utilized to develop performance-based design guidelines for fire hazards. The proposed design guidelines will lead to enhanced fire-safety of building structures. To enhance broader impacts of the research, the project will also develop educational modules for teaching structural fire engineering to undergraduate and graduate students. These modules will focus on fundamental concepts and multi-disciplinary principles that are intrinsic to this topic. Training modules using examples of performance-based structural-fire engineering designs will be developed to teach design provisions to practitioners, and will be made available to the design community through professional organizations
