PSI - Issue 78

Available online at www.sciencedirect.com

ScienceDirect

Procedia Structural Integrity 78 (2026) 1221–1228

© 2025 The Authors. Published by ELSEVIER B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0) Peer-review under responsibility of XX ANIDIS Conference organizers Keywords: fire safety engineering; steel structures; life cycle cost assessment; fire passive protection; fragility assessment Abstract Fire safety plays a central role in the design of industrial steel buildings due to the high vulnerability of the material to elevated temperatures. Although fire safety engineering provides advanced tools to optimize structural design, the widespread adoption of a performance-based approach for protected structures is still hindered by significant regulatory gaps. In this study an integrated methodology for assessing fire vulnerability through fragility curves is presented and validated through the application to a repre sentative steel building, intended for vehicle storage. The analysis is carried out with respect to 36 realistic fire scenarios, consid ering both unprotected configuration and protected with sprayed plaster of different thickness. The resulting fragility curves serve as basis to develop a cost-benefit analysis aimed at identifying the most effective protective solution, conjugating technical perfor mance in fire and economic sustainability. The study, thus, offers a contribution in the perspective of using the performance-based approach to improve the decision-making process within the design of passive fire protection. 1. Introduction The use of steel in industrial buildings offers several advantages, e.g. reduced construction times, flexibility and mechanical performance. However, this material is highly vulnerable to fire, due to its rapid loss of strength above 400 °C, and stiffness already beyond 100°C. To mitigate the mechanical degradation during the exposure to high XX ANIDIS Conference Cost-benefit analysis of fire-protected steel buildings for vehicle storage Antonio Cibelli a,* , Donatella de Silva a , Paola De Santis a , Andrea Miano b , Emidio Nigro a a Department of Structures for Engineering and Architecture, University of Naples “Federico II”, Via Claudio 21, Naples 80125, Italy b Department of Engineering, Pegaso University, Centro Direzionale Isola F2, Naples 80143, Italy

* Corresponding author. E-mail address: antonio.cibelli@unina.it

2452-3216 © 2025 The Authors. Published by ELSEVIER B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0) Peer-review under responsibility of XX ANIDIS Conference organizers 10.1016/j.prostr.2025.12.156