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SAFIR ® 1 Capabilities and examples of applications University of Liege – Fire Safety Engineering September 2015
SAFIR®
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Capabilities and examples of applications
University of Liege – Fire Safety Engineering
September 2015
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SAFIR®
Table of content
1. What is SAFIR?
� Description of the software
� Capabilities
� Pre-processors and postprocessor
� User community
2. Examples of application
3. Purchase conditions
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Description of SAFIR®
SAFIR is a computer program that models the behavior of building structures
subjected to fire. The structure can be made of a 3D skeleton of linear
elements such as beams and columns, in conjunction with planar elements
such as slabs and walls. Volumetric elements can be used for analysis of details
in the structure such as connections. Different materials such as steel,
concrete, timber, aluminum, gypsum or thermally insulating products can be
used separately or in combination in the model.
Process in a SAFIR analysis
1. The thermal attack from the fire is given as an input data
2. SAFIR computes the evolution of temperature in the sections
3. Then, SAFIR computes the mechanical response of the structure at elevated
temperatures, taking into account the thermal elongations as well as the
reduction of strength and stiffness in the materials
SAFIR®
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SAFIR®
Capabilities
1. The thermal attack from the fire may be represented by:
� Temperature of the gas (standard fires are proposed, but the
user can enter any time-temperature relationship)
� Thermal flux from a local fire to a beam or ceiling (Annex C of
EN 1991-1-2)
� Thermal flux from a local fire to a column (RFCS project
“LOCAFI”)
� Thermal flux from an FDS CFD calculation
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Capabilities
2. Calculation of temperature distributions in structures
subjected to fire
� 2D or 3D thermal calculations
� Finite elements: triangular, quadrangular, prismatic (6-8 nodes)
� Transient calculation (temperature varies with time)
� Predefined thermal material models proposed: concrete, steel,
wood, aluminium, gypsum
� Possibility to introduce other materials by specifying their
thermal properties (either constant or temperature dependent)
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Capabilities
3. Calculation of the behavior of a structure under elevated
temperatures
� 2D or 3D structural calculations
� Finite elements: truss, beams, shell, solid
� Nonlinear mechanical properties that are temperature
dependent
� Large displacements
� Predefined mechanical material models proposed: concrete,
steel, wood, aluminium
� SAFIR gives as a result the displacements of the nodes plus
information about the support reactions, stresses, tangent
modulus and effects of actions, as a function of time
4. Calculation of the torsional stiffness of a section
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Pre-processors and postprocessor
1. Pre-processors
� The general pre-processor GiD is favoured for use with SAFIR. GiD
allows the generation of any input file for 2D or 3D, thermal or
structural problem.
Note: GiD (http://www.gidhome.com/) is a commercial software
developed independently to SAFIR.
� The pre-processor Wizard allows the very fast creation of an input
file for the 2D thermal analysis of a section based on a hot rolled
steel H section.
2. Postprocessor� The postprocessor DIAMOND allows visualizing the structure and
the results. It also allows plotting charts for the evolution of
various output variables during the fire, and exporting these
charts to Excel.
SAFIR®
SAFIR®in the world
190 licenses sold
37 countries
5 continents
Non linear finite element
software for structures
in fire
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User community
120 academic users
• 12 in USA (Princeton, Michigan State, ...)
• Japan, Australia, China, Canada, U.K., ...
70 commercial users
• 18 in France
• Switzerland, USA, U.K., Sweden, Australia, ...
• Arup Fire, ArcelorMittal, Ingeni, ...
Scientific papers
• SAFIR paper in AISC: 272 citations since 2005 (source:
Google Scholar) http://hdl.handle.net/2268/2928
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Examples of applications
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2D thermal calculation
Protected steel beam heated on one side
1 225 nodes - 1 021 quadrangular elements
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Diamond 2011.a.2 for SAFIR
FILE: prot3board
NODES: 1225
ELEMENTS: 1021
SOLIDS PLOTFRONTIERS PLOTCONTOUR PLOTTEMPERATURE PLOT
TIME: 3600 sec1041.90900.00800.00700.00600.00500.00400.00300.00200.00100.0020.10
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2D thermal calculation
Radiation in internal cavity – shadow effect
201 nodes - 124 elementsDiamond 2011.a.2 for SAFIR
FILE: test_void2
NODES: 201
ELEMENTS: 124
SOLIDS PLOTTEMPERATURE PLOT
TIME: 3600 sec482.00
40.00
37.50
35.00
32.50
30.00
27.50
25.00
22.50
20.00
<Tmin
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2D thermal calculation
Reinforced concrete column with hollow core
1097 nodes - 2012 triangular elements
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2D thermal calculation
Reinforced concrete column with hollow core
1097 nodes - 2012 triangular elements
SAFIR®
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Y
Z
Diamond 2009.a.5 for SAFIR
FILE: hole9p
NODES: 6183
ELEMENTS: 5060
SOLIDS PLOTCONTOUR PLOTTEMPERATURE PLOT
TIME: 1200 sec736.80
500.00
450.00
400.00
350.00
300.00
250.00
200.00
150.00
100.00
50.00
20.00
3D thermal calculation
Concrete beam
6 183 nodes - 5 060 solid elements
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3D thermal calculation
Composite steel-concrete joint
31 502 nodes - 25 411 solid elements
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2D structural calculation
Example of a frame structure
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3D structural calculation
Case study by R. Fike and V. Kodur – Michigan State University, USA
Partial model of an eight story steel frame office building
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3D structural calculation
NRC report - part 2. H. Mostafaei, P. Leroux, P.-S. Lafrance
Hybrid Fire Testing for Performance Evaluation of Structures in Fire
X Y
Z
5.0 E-01 m
Diamond 2011.a.2 for SAFIR
FILE: 3d
NODES: 2508
BEAMS: 1167
TRUSSES: 0
SHELLS: 0
SOILS: 0
DISPLACEMENT PLOT ( x 30)
TIME: 7200 sec
XY
Z
1.0 E-01 m
Diamond 2011.a.2 for SAFIR
FILE: 3d
NODES: 2508
BEAMS: 1167
TRUSSES: 0
SHELLS: 0
SOILS: 0
DISPLACEMENT PLOT ( x 30)
TIME: 7200 sec
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3D structural calculation
Flumilog test, INERIS France
2 624 nodes - 940 beam elements
X Y
Z
1.0 E+01 m
Diamond 2009.a.5 for SAFIR
FILE: Modelo_Def_3
NODES: 2624
BEAMS: 940
TRUSSES: 0
SHELLS: 0
SOILS: 0
DISPLACEMENT PLOT ( x 1)
TIME: 739.0464 s ec
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Timber box flooring system
3 892 nodes - 4 428 shell elements
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3D structural calculation
Cellular steel beam in fire
Z
SAFIR®
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3D structural calculation
Cellular steel beam in fire
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3D structural calculation
Structural Fire Analysis of a building with an arched concrete roof
ICB
Snap-through collapse under fire when the steel tie rods fail
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3D structural calculation
Plot of the membrane forces in the concrete shells
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3D structural calculation
Full scale fire test – Ulster 27-02-2010
RFCS project (Vassart, et al., 2012)
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0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160
Tem
pera
ture
[°C
]
Time [min]
Middle
Left bottom corner
Left top corner
Right bottom corner
Right top corner
OZone model
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2 3
3D structural calculation
Full scale fire test – Ulster 27-02-2010
RFCS project (Vassart, et al., 2012)
-1,0
-0,8
-0,6
-0,4
-0,2
0,0
0 30 60 90 120 150 180
Deflection (m)
Time (min)
Ulster fire test
Numerical simulation
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Recent references in the literature
Gernay, T., & Franssen, J.-M. (2015). A plastic-damage model for concrete in fire: Applications in structural fire
engineering. Fire Safety Journal, 71, 268–278. http://hdl.handle.net/2268/175163
Gernay, T., Millard, A., & Franssen, J.-M. (2013). A multiaxial constitutive model for concrete in the fire situation:
Theoretical formulation. International Journal of Solids and Structures, 50(22-23), 3659-3673.
http://hdl.handle.net/2268/153663
Tondini, N., & Franssen, J.-M. (2013). Implementation of a weak coupling approach between a CFD and an FE
software for fires in compartment. V International Conference on Computational Methods for Coupled Problems
in Science and Engineering, 185-192. http://hdl.handle.net/2268/172165
Gernay, T., & Franssen, J.-M. (2012). A formulation of the Eurocode 2 concrete model at elevated temperature
that includes an explicit term for transient creep. Fire Safety Journal, 51, 1-9.
http://hdl.handle.net/2268/114050
Vassart, O., Bailey, C. G., Hawes, M., Nadjai, A., Simms, W. I., Zhao, B., Gernay, T., & Franssen, J.-M. (2012). Large-
scale fire test of unprotected cellular beam acting in membrane action. Proceedings of the Institution of Civil
Engineers: Structures and Buildings, 165(7), 327–334. http://hdl.handle.net/2268/129307
Zaharia, R., & Gernay, T. (2012). Validation of the Advanced Calculation Model SAFIR Through DIN EN 1991-1-2
Procedure. Proceedings of the 10th International Conference ASCCS 2012, 841-848.
http://hdl.handle.net/2268/126520
Lopes, N., Vila Real, P., Simoes da Silva, L., & Franssen, J.-M. (2012). Numerical analysis of stainless steel beam-
columns in case of fire. Fire Safety Journal, 50, 35-50. http://hdl.handle.net/2268/115161
SAFIR®
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Licenses
�Academic license: 1000 € + taxes.
�Commercial license: 5000 € + taxes.
�No limitation in time (the license can be used for unlimited duration)
�One license is valid for multiple users (from a same institution and a same
location/site)
�Free updates during 1 year
Training sessions
�Organized on demand
�800 € per day, independent on the number of participants
�Can be organized on site at the client’s. In this case, the client also covers
the travel and accommodation cost, as well as one day at the rate of 800 € for
travel time.
Purchase conditionsSAFIR®
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Surf on the web
�SAFIR website: http://www.facsa.ulg.ac.be/cms/c_1584029/en/safir
�Purchase online:
Academic: http://www.gesval.be/fr/catalogue/safir-academic
Commercial: http://www.gesval.be/fr/catalogue/safir-commercial
Contact us
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