HSS Insider – Dec. 2022 – Fire Ratings

December 2022 | Issue #15

Fire Resistance and HSS

Keeping Your Cool: How To Get Started With HSS Fire Ratings

Once a building catches fire, it needs to resist the flames long enough for occupants to safely exit and salvage as much of the structure as possible. Learn more about fire ratings and how designing HSS for fire resistance can protect your building through internal and external insulation.

How Fire Resistance and Progressive Collapse Shape the Steel Industry and Beyond

We’re joined by Dr. Spencer Quiel, associate professor of engineering at Lehigh University, to discuss his expertise and research in the areas of fire resistance, blast and progressive collapse.

Learning Opportunities

Need PDHs in December?

Gain valuable knowledge at your convenience with STI’s Webinars On Demand series. These complimentary webinar recordings cover topics such as bolting to HSS, AESS, navigating AISC 360-16 and more. Need a PDH credit? Just order and pass the accompanying quiz to earn 1.0 PDH. Cost of quizzes have been reduced to $25 for HSS Professional Members and $35 for non-members.

Related Resources

Fire Protection of HSS

What can designers and engineers do to increase the fire protection of a structure’s HSS members? This article provides an overview of how internal and external insulation can increase fire resistance and details existing research on this topic.

Webinars On Demand: Fire Protection of HSS

What are the effects of fire on steel? What is the required resistance time and how do you reach it? Explore how HSS can be fireproofed both externally and internally. Earn 1.0 PDH and a certificate upon completion.

Composite Concrete Filled HSS: Design Considerations

Concrete filled HSS are an effective way to increase fire resistance within a structure. This overview includes design recommendations, material limitations, classification of local buckling and more.

In the News

Three Common Connection Design Mistakes

Jason McCool, PE, shares common “copy and paste” design mistakes he frequently sees structural engineers make in connection design. He emphasizes that designs should play a specific role to eliminate redundancy.

Informed Infrastructure Interviews STI’s New HSS Director

The Steel Tube Institute’s HSS Director, Holly Schaubert, was recently interviewed by Informed Infrastructure’s Editorial Director, Todd Danielson.  Check out the interview at Informed Infrastructure to learn more about the Steel Tube Institute. 

Billings Decline Further at Architect Firms

Architecture firms continue to see a decline in billings with the Architecture Billings Index falling to 46.6. Although inquiries on new projects continue to modestly rise, the value of new design contracts further declined in November, indicating that firms are seeing a decline in current work and that less new work is entering the pipeline. Read the article to find out the status of each of the regions.

AIA/Deltek Architecture Billings Index (ABI) requires a subscription to view historical ABI data. This link will take you to the AIA login.

Steel Shipments Down 4.2% Year to Date

AISI reports that although U.S. steel mills shipments were up 1% from September with 7,210,301 net tons (NT) shipped in October, which is a 12.2% decrease from the 8,215,071 NT shipped in October 2021. Shipments year to date are down 4% with 2022 seeing 75,675,222 NT vs. 2021 shipments of 78,954,052 NT. Read the full report below.