Thermal Actions for Structural Analysis of Existing Buildings: Case Study and Developments

Retrofitting and refurbishment of existing buildings is an everyday challenge for fire safety engineers, and maybe even more for structural engineers that must deal with buildings made following old codes and practices. In order to respond to these subjects (verification of structural strength, reduction or optimization of passive protection costs), engineering studies are increasingly using performance-based methods. This article describes some of the strategies that are being used on real projects as part of our daily duties.