Thermal Deformation and Structural Response of a Rolling Shutter Fire Door Exposed to Standard Fire Heating: A Coupled Thermo-Mechanical FEM Study

Abstract

In this study, the behavior of a fire-resistant shutter door under a furnace temperature reaching 1200 °C during a 120-minute fire test was investigated both experimentally and numerically. In numerical studies, a coupled thermal-structural finite element model was created using ANSYS 2022 R1; temperature distributions were transferred to the structural solution. The deformation behavior did not indicate separation of the shutter curtain from the guiding system that would be expected to compromise its structural integrity. In the experimental test, the furnace temperature was continuously monitored and controlled by sensors inside the furnace. No sustained flame penetration or critical opening satisfying the EN 1634-1 integrity criteria was observed throughout fire exposure. The critical openings are checked in accordance with the prescribed 25 mm gap gauge and 6 mm/150 mm gap gauge criteria as per EN 1634-1. The maximum Y-directional deformation predicted by the FEA was about 77.36 mm. The deformation measured by the experiment was between 55 and 75 mm. The numerical result is in good agreement with the experimental value of 75 mm, with a difference of about 3.14%. The literature review shows that most of the studies were conducted on steel-hinged or sliding doors. There are few studies on the deformation and thermal behavior of double-walled shutter-type fire doors subjected to prolonged high temperatures. The present work fills this gap by quantitatively analyzing the actual behavior of shutter doors under fire, offering the engineering data needed at the design and prototyping stages. Finally, the experimental results and finite element analysis demonstrate that the shutter door maintained its integrity during the 120-minute fire exposure and met the E120 integrity criteria. The validated numerical model can be considered a trustworthy engineering tool for design modification and prototype optimization.

Keywords

• Shutter door
• Fire resistance
• Thermal stress analysis
• EN 1634-1
• Finite element method

Ethical Statement

Ethics committee approval was not required for this study because of there was no study on animals or humans.

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