The Structural Engineering Institute of the American Society of Civil Engineers and the Charles Pankow Foundation are beginning a $230,000 research project intended to advance the use of performance-based structural fire engineering.
The adoption of SFE in the U.S. is hindered by a lack of participation by structural engineers, a lack of trial designs demonstrating the potential benefits to stakeholders and a lack of familiarity with the approach by building officials, says SEI.