NRMCA Participates in Key Committee Briefing on Concrete Fire Resistance

Earlier this week, NRMCA attended the virtual meeting of the joint ACI-TMS Technical Committee on Fire Resistance and Fire Protection of Structures. The committee discussed revisions to ACI/TMS 216.1-14, Code Requirements for Determining Fire Resistance of Concrete and Masonry Construction Assemblies. The next edition of the standard will include a new chapter on loads in addressing fire strength reduction factors, load factors and load combinations, and fire scenarios in addition to the prescriptive ASTM E119 fire curve. The update will bring the ACI/TMS standard closer to other international standards in supporting performance approaches to concrete fire design and analyses.

The committee is also developing a new rational design document on determining fire resistance. The document will establish engineering design criteria for exact calculation of fire resistance for existing concrete elements. In summary, the document will provide guidelines for determining fire resistance through analytical methods in addition to the existing prescriptive methods and will be referenced by the revised ACI 216 standard. The technical committee is also involved in the development of a new chapter on fire in ACI 562, Code Requirements for Assessment, Repair, and Rehabilitation of Existing Concrete Structures. The chapter will focus on the impact of fire on repair, including post-fire event assessments of existing structures as well as consideration of external factors such as fiber-reinforced polymers and anchorage. Provisions for assessments will be prescriptive with an emphasis on level of damage and repair of concrete.

Build With Strength is a coalition led by NRMCA that promotes standards advocacy to leverage policies advocating safety and resiliency and help place more concrete. For more information on fire codes and standards advocacy efforts, contact Shamim Rashid-Sumar at ssumar@nrmca.org.