How fire causes office-building floors to collapse
Tuesday, March 24, 2020 - 20:30
in Earth & Climate
Researchers spent months meticulously recreating the long concrete floors supported by steel beams commonly found in high-rise office buildings, only to set the structures ablaze. These experiments indicate that structures built to code are not always equipped to survive the forces induced by extreme shifts in temperature, but the data gained here could help researchers develop and validate new design tools and building codes that bolster fire safety.