The present work aims to give a contribution to the study of cold-formed steel members under fire condition. Specifically, the heat transfer in light steel framed walls with or without thermal insulation was studied. For this, computational models are applied to obtain, with acceptable precision, the values of temperature in any position of the structural system. In this way, it will be possible to describe the temperature distribution (uniform or non-uniform) over the cross-section of the studs that constitute the panel, giving subsidies for stability and pos-buckling analyses of the structural members. The numerical simulations of heat transfer are developed with the aid of computational programs ABAQUS and SAFIR, both based on the finite element method.
Structural analysis; fire; steel frame; dry wall; cold-formed element; structural integrity
