Review and Assessment of Fire Hazard

in Bridges
Venkatesh Kodur, Li Gu, and Maria E. Moreyra Garlock

Bridge fires are low-probability but high-consequence incidents. Gener- cussed. A case study is presented to evaluate the fire performance of
ally, bridge design codes and standards, in contrast to building codes, do a composite steel bridge girder. Further, research needs for mitigating
not take into account the concept of fire safety. However, recent high- fire hazard in critical bridge structures is presented.
profile fire incidents on bridges and in other infrastructure have
opened a debate on the need for fire resistance requirements on bridges.
An overview of fire hazard in bridges is presented. A state-of-the-art STATE-OF-THE-ART REVIEW
review related to the bridge fire hazard was carried out. Different
General
conditions and complexities associated with characterizing fire hazards in
bridges are discussed, and a design strategy to integrate performance- Provision for appropriate fire safety measures is one of the major
based fire safety into bridge design is suggested. Further, a strategy to requirements in the design of buildings and built infrastructure. The
assess and repair fire-damaged bridges is proposed. A case study is pre- main objective of the fire safety measures is to minimize loss of life
sented to evaluate the fire performance of a composite steel bridge girder. and property in the event of fire. For structural members, fire safety
Finally, needed research that can lead to improved performance of bridges objectives are usually achieved through fire resistance provisions. Fire
during fire incidents is highlighted. resistance is the duration during which a structural system exhibits
resistance with respect to structural integrity, stability, and temper-
ature transmission. Structural fire safety is critical since structural
Fire is one of the most severe environmental hazards to which the built integrity is the last line of defense in the event of failure of fire con-
infrastructure may be subjected during its lifetime. In recent decades, trol measures. Nevertheless, this concept has not been introduced
because of the rapid development of urban ground transportation in the bridge design industry yet, mainly because life safety is the
systems as well as increasing transportation of hazardous materials primary consideration in fire safety design, and large open spaces in
(flammable materials, spontaneously combustible materials, poi- bridges allow people to be evacuated quickly in the event of fire.
sonous materials, etc.), bridge fires have become a concern in the However, fire does play a crucial role in the performance of bridges
United States. Fire hazards in bridges can result in significant eco- and other infrastructure, as seen in the recent bridge collapses around
nomic and public losses. Bridges damaged by fire are usually hard the country and the damage to Eurotunnels.
to detour and significantly affect traffic quality in the region. Further, In recent decades, there has been a move toward performance-based
a severe fire may result in permanent damage or even collapse of the design, adoption of which implies a shift away from dependence on
bridge. Although the perception may be that it is unlikely that a empirical and experience-based conventions and toward a rational
bridge will collapse under fire, a survey carried out by the New York design and assessment process more firmly rooted in the realistic pre-
State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) in 2008 (M. E. M. diction of structural response under realistic loading, fire, and failure
Garlock, unpublished work, 2009) shows that nearly three times more conditions. For predicting realistic performance under performance-
bridges have collapsed because of fire than earthquakes. based codes, fire hazard in bridges should be an important design
Although the fire safety of bridges is becoming more and more consideration.
important, there are no specific fire resistance requirements, design Generally, bridges were built with conventional materials, such
guidelines, or assessment and repair strategies for bridges. Thus, if a as concrete and steel. Concrete has good fire resistance because of
fire occurs on or under a bridge, the absence of fire protection and the low conductivity, but new types of concrete may exhibit spalling
lack of assessment and repair methods can lead to significant losses and fast degradation of properties in fire. Also, applying water on
and downtime. hot concrete, which is commonly done in firefighting, may further
A state-of-the-art review is presented on fire hazard in bridges. aggravate the spalling of concrete. However, mechanical properties
The need for a performance-based fire safety design strategy and an of steel are very sensitive to high temperature, and steel members
assessment and repair methodology for fire-damaged bridges is dis- lose their load-bearing function quickly in fire. As a consequence,
there is an urgent need to investigate the fire performance of bridges,
V. Kodur and L. Gu, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Michigan especially bridges on crucial highways and in urban areas. Such
State University, 3580 EB, East Lansing, MI 48824-1226. M. E. M. Garlock, material behavior of concrete and steel at high temperature has led
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Princeton University, E-209A to a few bridge collapses.
Engineering Quad, Princeton, NJ 08544. Corresponding author: V. Kodur, kodur@
egr.msu.edu.

Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board,

Bridge Fire Incidents
No. 2172, Transportation Research Board of the National Academies, Washington,
D.C., 2010, pp. 23–29. Recently, there has been a surge in fire-related incidents in bridges,
DOI: 10.3141/2172-03 some of which have led to destructive damage. NYSDOT conducted

23
24 Transportation Research Record 2172

a voluntary bridge failure survey in 2008, to which 18 state depart- and allowing the interchange to collapse to the highway underneath.
ments of transportation responded (including California). Data were The steel frame of the I-580 overpass and the bolts holding the frame
collected from 1,746 bridge failures according to the type of bridge, together softened and bent in the intense heat and that movement
the material (steel, concrete, wood), and the cause of failure. The sur- pulled the roadbed off its supports. Preliminary indications revealed
vey showed that although the majority of bridge failures were due to that the failure was due to overstressing of the connections during the
hydraulic reasons (flood or scour), about three times more bridges fire. The collapse occurred about 22 min after the start of the fire. As
collapsed because of fire than because of earthquakes. Battelle (1) the fire progressed, the bolted connections in the collapsed girder
carried out a literature review, which revealed that annual en route began to weaken from the heat and were placed under increasing load
accidents with fire and accidents with an explosion have a total from the weakening of the remainder of the bridge. The result is the
impact of nearly $139 million per year. For example, accidents with clean breaks at the connections (Figure 1b). The federal government
bulk carriers that contain flammable and combustible materials spent more than $9 million to repair the damage, which included
caused an estimated 490 gas release accidents and about 889 non- $4.3 million for demolishing and removing the section of I-580 and
release accidents in 1996. In addition to urban bridges, fire incidence about $2 million for traffic control.
is a big problem for thousands of historic U.S. timber bridges. The
lack of fire protection or detection methods results in severe damage
or total destruction of timber bridges every year (2). Bill Williams River Bridge, Arizona
Table 1 details a few examples of major U.S. bridge fire incidents
in the past 15 years. A brief review of some of the fire incidents is On July 28, 2006, a tanker fire accident occurred at the Bill Williams
provided next. River Bridge between Parker and Lake Havasu City in Arizona (5).
The bridge, built in 1967, consisted of fourteen 76-ft simple spans and
two 30-ft concrete slab approach spans. The tanker truck, which con-
Hazel Park, Michigan tained 7,600 gal of diesel, overturned in the middle of the concrete
bridge and spilled diesel fuel, which caught fire. The majority of burn-
On July 15, 2009, a bridge over I-75 near Hazel Park close to Detroit, ing occurred on the bridge deck, lasted about 21⁄2 h, and damaged three
Michigan, collapsed as a result of fire (3) (Figure 1a). The incident spans including the concrete deck and barrier. The fire under the
occurred when a car spun out of control along an overpass on I-75 and bridge damaged the pier beam, concrete girders, and underside of
caused the following tanker to crash. The tanker was carrying more the deck. Considering the severity of the fire, the bridge remarkably
than 13,000 gal of gas and approximately 4,000 gal of diesel when it survived the collapse, except for the east overhang. The most severe
exploded under the overpass. The intense heat of the explosion made damage was localized to the exterior girders and deck overhangs.
the overpass collapse onto the freeway below within 30 min. Prelim-
inary recommendations called for rebuilding the entire 9-mi bridge
over I-75, and the freeway below also needed some level of repair. Assessment and Repair Strategies

Following fire incidents, it is critical to evaluate the serviceability

Oakland, California and load-bearing capacity of a damaged bridge. However, there are
limited rational guidelines to assess the postfire condition of bridges.
On the morning of April 29, 2007, at about 3:45 a.m., a tanker carry- Various techniques often derived from non-fire-loading events (earth-
ing 8,600 gal of gasoline was traveling too fast in a 50-mph zone and quakes or blasts) are used to assess and repair fire-damaged bridges.
overturned and burst into flames on the I-80–I-880 interchange in The assessment techniques utilized in recent bridge fire incidents are
Oakland, California (4). The fire resulted in the collapse of at least two reviewed here.
sections of bridges at the interchange, including one supporting the Davis et al. (6) assessed the condition of the Bill Williams River
I-580 freeway. This multilevel freeway interchange bridge, known as concrete bridge after a fire accident. Their assessment included field
the MacArthur Maze, connected several major cities in California. inspection, nondestructive evaluation, material sample test, pet-
The fire was believed to have reached 1100°C, causing steel to soften rographic analysis, and loading-capacity analysis. The inspection

TABLE 1 Major Bridge Fire Incidents in the United States

Bridge and Location Date Cause of Fire Damage Description

Bridge over I-75 near Hazel Park, Mich. July 15, 2009 Gasoline tanker struck an overpass on I-75. Complete collapse of the bridge, which fell on
the freeway below
Big Four Bridge, Louisville, Ky. May 7, 2008 Electrical problem in the lighting system; took Minor structural damage, resulting in large
21⁄2 hours to control the fire amount of debris on the bridge
I-80–880 interchange in Oakland, Calif. April 29, 2007 Gasoline tanker crashed. A 228-m section of the interchange collapsed.
Bill Williams River Bridge, Ariz. July 28, 2006 Gasoline tanker overturned. Beam, concrete girders, and underside of the
deck were damaged.
I-95 Howard Avenue Overpass in March 26, 2003 Car struck a truck carrying 8,000 gallons of Collapse of the southbound lanes and partial
Bridgeport, Conn. heating oil. collapse of the northbound lanes
I-80W–I-580E ramp in Emeryville, Feb. 5, 1995 Gasoline tanker crashed. Deck, guardrail, and some ancillary facilities
Calif. were damaged.
Kodur, Gu, and Garlock 25

Ballim and Silbernagl (7 ) assessed a roadway concrete bridge

that was damaged by a diesel fuel fire. Their assessment included
(a) visual appraisal of the bridge deck and associated superstruc-
ture, (b) assessment of core samples, (c) compressive strength test-
ing of concrete, (d) microscopic assessment of thin-section samples,
and (e) load testing of the bridge deck. The results showed that the
bridge suffered little structural damage from the fire. Much of the
damage was superficial, mainly because of the low thermal conduc-
tivity of the concrete. The bridge was in good service condition and
was reopened to traffic shortly after the fire.
The I-80–I-880 highway bridge in Oakland (4) was investigated and
repaired by a group of professional engineers. They took more than a
dozen core concrete and steel-core samples (large cylinders cut from
the structure) and carried out material property tests. The preliminary
analysis suggested that although the I-880 ramp had minor fire
damage, it was structurally sound. Around 165 ft of the collapsed
I-580 overpass, including all decks and girders, were replaced.
(a) All warped steel beams within the structure were straightened and
reinforced.
In addition to the foregoing conventional assessment techniques,
other techniques, for instance, dynamic and static load tests and ultra-
sonic rebound tests, are used to assess the service condition of a bridge
after a fire.

DESIGN AND ASSESSMENT STRATEGIES

FOR BRIDGES

Design Strategies for Fire Hazard

Bridges are designed to meet the requirements under different limit

states, such as strength, fatigue, fracture, service, and extreme events
(i.e., fire hazard) (8). However, the current prescriptive approaches do
not provide rational and realistic fire safety assessment, which has led
to growing recognition that performance-based approaches should be
used. The performance-based fire safety approach currently used for
(b)
buildings could be adopted for fire design in bridges.
FIGURE 1 Collapse of bridges as a result of fire: (a) Hazel Park
Bridge near Detroit, Michigan, and (b) highway bridge in Oakland,
California. Performance-Based Design Approach

Fire can represent a significant hazard in bridges and should be consid-

ered as a key parameter in the design rather than being treated as a post-
involved observations of the barriers, girders, pier cap and columns, construction protection strategy. The performance objectives for fire
and top and underside of the deck. These areas were also sounded with safety design should consider both life safety and property protection.
a hammer to detect locations of delaminations in the concrete. Loca- To achieve these objectives, structural members should be provided
tions of concrete spalls as well as exposed mild and prestressed with sufficient fire resistance properties. Structural behavior under fire
reinforcing steel were marked. Nondestructive evaluation was carried conditions is governed by fire characteristics, response of the con-
out by using the impact echo test to measure consistency and relative stituent materials, load response of components, and the complex
damage of material and to extrapolate the concrete cores to the rest of interactions between the individual components that are part of the
the bridge. Then concrete cores from the barrier deck and girder pier structural system. Through a performance-based approach and integra-
cap, reinforcing steel from girder stirrup and deck, and prestressed tion of the concept of fire resistance, it is possible to achieve bridge
steel from the girder end were tested to evaluate material properties design that is both cost-effective and fire safe.
after the fire. Further, petrographic analysis investigated the damage The hazard scenario for bridges should be assessed on the basis of
and property change of the concrete in high temperature, that is, the the probable occurrence of fire. The effect of probable fires on both
depth of microcracking, paste alteration (color change and strength life safety and property protection should be considered. Bridges are
softening), and carbonation. After the assessment, the short-term and important lifeline structures and their continuous operation is impor-
the long-term impacts of the fire hazard on the load-bearing capacity tant for security, emergency response, and economic activities. For
of the bridge were evaluated. Recommendations such as replacing example, collapse of a bridge connecting two islands due to fire haz-
and repairing damaged decks as well as straightening, realigning, and ard can lead to significant operational problems and economic losses.
strengthening of bent girders were proposed. Thus, a detailed assessment should be made for establishing the
26 Transportation Research Record 2172

worst possible fire scenario for the life of the bridge, including a 1200
severe fire. Through the analysis of hazard scenarios, it is possible to
estimate the vulnerability of bridges and also the importance of the 1000
structural system, which provides precious information to enhance

Temperature (°C)
the fire resistance and serviceability of the bridge. 800

600
Bridge Fire Analysis
400
There are no available mathematical models to evaluate the fire resis- Hydrocarbon fire
tance of bridges. For this purpose, the fire safety design strategy anal- 200
Design fire
ogous to that for buildings can be applied. The flowchart in Figure 2
0
illustrates the general procedure, which calculates (a) the fire temper-
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
ature, (b) the temperatures in the fire-exposed bridge member, and
Time (min.)
(c) the strength of the member during the exposure to fire, including
an analysis of stress and strain distribution. FIGURE 3 ASTM E1529 fire curve and design fire curve.

Fire Temperature The intensity of a bridge fire depends on quan-

tity of fuel and ventilation characteristics. Since bridges are generally
located in open zones, there is no dearth of oxygen for fueling the fire. realistic fire scenario and should be used in bridge fire analysis.
The fire scenario in a bridge is mainly controlled by the fuel load of The decay phase can significantly influence the response of bridge
vehicles involved in an incident and can be represented by a hydrocar- systems under fire conditions. There are other fire temperature
bon fire curve for burning in large open spaces, which is applicable curves for describing the fire hazard in bridges and infrastructure,
where gasoline fires might occur. Hydrocarbon fires are much more such as the hydrocarbon-modified curve, RABT-ZTV curve, and
severe than building fires and are characterized by fast heating rates or the Rijkswaterstaat curve (9).
high fire intensities. One typical hydrocarbon fire, the ASTM E1529
standard fire (Figure 3), can pose a severe threat to a bridge system. Thermal Analysis The next step in the analysis is the calcula-
ASTM E1529 fire temperatures can reach beyond 1000°C within tion of the temperatures of fire-exposed members. These temper-
the first few minutes and continue to increase throughout the fire dura- atures are calculated by using a finite difference or finite element
tion. This aspect is not realistic since fires die down because of method. In these methods, the cross section of the member is divided
burn-out conditions resulting from lack of fuel or oxygen. In this into a number of elemental regions depending on the geometry of the
situation, after a certain fire exposure time, the fire temperature starts member. For each element or layer, a heat balance formulation is
to decay. This feature is represented in Figure 3 for a design fire, developed. By solving the heat balance equations for each element
which has a well-defined decay phase. The design fire represents a or layer, the temperature history of the member is calculated. The
heat transfer analysis should consider changes in material proper-
ties (thermal properties) with increasing temperature for all mate-
rials in the structural system. The boundary conditions should
Start consider both radiation and convection heat transfer mechanisms,
as appropriate. The presence of any fire-resistive materials, in the
form of insulation or other protective measures, should be included
Increment time in the heat transfer analysis. When the focus is on the assessment
of the performance of individual members or of components sub-
Fire temperature: jected to a uniform heat flux and relatively uniform temperature
Calculation of fire temperature distribution, simple methods can be used to develop cross-sectional
temperatures (10).
Thermal Thermal analysis:
properties Calculation of member temperature Strength Analysis In the third step, stress–strain analyses are
conducted to determine the strengths of members under fire. For
most bridge construction materials like concrete, steel, and timber,
Mechanical Strength analysis: the strength decreases with increasing temperature and the dura-
Calculations of strains, stresses, tion of fire exposure. To calculate the strength of bridge members,
properties
strength and deflection
knowledge of the relevant mechanical properties at elevated tem-
peratures is essential. Mechanical properties of various materials
at elevated temperatures can be found in some manuals and hand-
Check failure books (11). Methods and mathematical models to calculate the fire
No
resistance of various concrete, steel, timber, and composite mem-
Yes
bers are also given in these manuals and handbooks. Decreases in
End stiffness and strength under fire conditions can be substantial. For
example, at a temperature of 550°C, the modulus of elasticity and
FIGURE 2 Flowchart for calculating fire resistance of yield strength of structural steel are approximately one-half to
structural system. two-thirds of their ambient (20°C) values.
Kodur, Gu, and Garlock 27

Finite Element Analysis reinforcing steel, which will further intensify the damage. Inspection
should include deflection of concrete beams and slabs as well as obser-
For detailed finite element analysis, the following factors are to be vation of cracks, spalling, and surface cover delaminations. Further,
accounted for: global analysis, type of bridge, realistic design loads, a pulse–echo test or an ultrasonic rebound test can be used to obtain
and failure criteria: detailed information on the concrete material. A pink, white, or buff
color in concrete indicates that the fire temperature was very high and
• The global analysis, which takes into account critical factors permanent damage resulted. If none of the foregoing colors are pres-
such as member interactions and force redistribution, gives the fire ent, there probably is no permanent damage, but this condition needs
performance of an overall bridge rather than the performance of a to be confirmed by materials tests. If prestressed concrete elements are
single member. This analysis is critical for the fire design of bridges, subjected to a fire, a major concern is the possible relaxation of the
since it provides a realistic assessment and consequently helps in strands, the effect on bond stress, the condition of posttension ducts,
developing an optimized structural design. and the value of any epoxies and grouts (12). An evaluation of these
• The type of bridge, for instance, reinforced concrete, prestressed elements generally requires a higher level of expertise than that needed
concrete, steel–concrete composite, and steel truss, is an important for normal reinforced concrete. In bridges, prestressed members are
parameter when fire resistance is assessed. Different construction designed not to have any cracks. If cracks are found, there is a good
materials, member sections, and force transfer mechanisms have a chance that the reinforcement has relaxed, and the member should
strong impact on the fire performance of bridges. For instance, after a be removed from service.
fire, members in a steel truss bridge may undergo large deformations, Steel bridges without insulation have relatively low fire resistance.
local buckling, and deterioration of load-carrying capacity. In con- Steel loses strength quickly with the increase of temperature and
trast, concrete bridges after a fire may experience fire-induced spalling undergoes a phase change at about 721°C that significantly affects its
and stress relaxation of prestressed rebars. material properties. Steel members may exhibit buckling and signif-
• Since fire is an accidental event that occurs rarely, the analysis icant deflection (lateral drift, bend, or distortion), which should be
of the fire performance of a bridge commonly does not need to con- carefully inspected on site.
sider other rare events, such as the simultaneous occurrence of maxi-
mum live load, earthquake load, or wind load. In recent years, there
is a growing recognition that fire resistance should be evaluated under Residual Strength Test
reduced load levels. For instance, these reduced levels for buildings
Material property tests should be performed to evaluate the resid-
are in the range of 1.2 dead load + 0.5 live load. However, codes and
ual strength of concrete, steel, or other materials. Concrete cores
standards have no information on the specific load level for fire design
from damaged bridge elements should be tested for compressive
of bridges.
strength and petrographic analysis. The petrographic analysis is
• Finally, the failure criteria should include temperature, strength,
mainly concerned with the damage and property change of the con-
deflection, and rate of deflection and should be checked at each time crete at high temperature, that is, the depth of microcracking, paste
step. Failure is said to occur when any of the following four limit alteration (color change and strength softening), and carbonation
states are reached: heat transmission leading to unacceptable rise of and also the microcracking inside the core specimens. Such dam-
temperature on the unexposed surface, breach of barrier due to crack- age can adversely affect the strength and durability of concrete and
ing or loss of integrity, loss of load-bearing capacity, or excessive contribute to accelerated corrosion of the reinforcement and may
deflection (or deflection rate). shorten service life. In addition, steel specimens and rebar should
be tested for their yield and ultimate strength after fire exposure.

Postfire Assessment Strategy

Loading Rate Analysis
To investigate fire-induced damage in bridges, a strategy is needed
to evaluate the damage, determine if the bridge is safe after the fire, Based on the field inspection and material tests, a loading rate analy-
and evaluate and prevent further damage. Research should be carried sis may need to be performed. The analysis should be carried out with
out to develop such strategies in detail; ideally, guidelines will be reduced cross sections of structural members (areas with cracking or
developed that will assist the bridge engineer in a fast and confident severe damage should be removed), together with deteriorated ma-
postfire evaluation. In general, the evaluation strategy can be divided terial properties of construction material. The shear and flexure
into four steps. strength of the deck and the girder should be calculated. Time is a
critical factor for postfire evaluation, so ideally a simple analysis pro-
cedure will be available quickly (perhaps based on a detailed numer-
On-Site Inspection ical simulation that has been done and published through rigorous
research).
On-site inspection should be carried out to assess superficial damage
of a bridge due to fire. Observations of damaged bridge members
exposed to fire, such as piers, girders, decks, and bearings, should be Repair Strategies
made. Material discolorations and member deformations will indicate
to some extent the amount of fire damage. Once appropriate postfire damage assessment is completed, the next
Concrete bridges generally perform quite well in fire and may step is to develop relevant repair strategies for repairing moderately
require only minimal repairs because of the low conductivity of con- damaged members or replacing severely damaged members. Detailed
crete. However, when firefighters extinguish the fire, the water on repair procedures need to be specifically adopted for cases of fire dam-
hot concrete may cause spalling of the surface and may temper the age. Since fire damage in bridges—for instance, concrete spalling or
28 Transportation Research Record 2172

steel distortion—is significantly different from other types of damage, ature of each element was read by the structural analysis, which used
techniques used for repairing earthquake, blast, or impact damage beam fiber elements to represent the cross section.
cannot be directly applied. Studies should be carried out to develop In the unprotected case, the lower flange and web temperature
rational repair strategies for bridge fire damage. reached over 1000°C in less than 30 min for both the ASTM and
design fire curves. In the protected case, at 30 min, the average tem-
perature of the protected girder was lower, resulting in a reduction of
CASE STUDY yield strength (400°C) for both fire scenarios. Structural analyses
(which used these temperature data) indicated that the unprotected
A case study was performed to simulate fire performance of a steel– girder developed a plastic hinge, which resulted in deflection runaway
concrete composite bridge girder. Both the unprotected bridge girder and collapse at 30 min and 22 min for the ASTM and design fire,
and the girder protected by fire insulation (12-mm insulation for 2 h respectively. In contrast, the protected girder performed well under
of fire resistance) were analyzed. Realistic factors such as loading fire, and no failure resulted.
condition, fire scenario, and high-temperature material properties The case study analysis did not consider the following struc-
were considered. In the case study, a petrol tanker truck is assumed tural limit states that may have controlled the global response and
to crash into a roadway bridge and cause a severe fire underneath (Fig- failure of the bridge: integrity of the shear studs, web buckling, and
ure 4). The girder is assumed to be of Grade 345 steel per ASTM connections. The failure time of less than 30 min for an unprotected
A709M, and the concrete slab has compression strength of 28 MPa. girder as shown by this case study may therefore be unconservative
The dead load (steel plate girder, concrete deck, barrier rail and over- since failure may have developed sooner because of one of the other
lay) as well as a 9-m truck live load as defined by AASHTO HL-93 limit states. Analyses that consider all of the limit states described
(13) were considered. above are quite complex, but such analysis deserves attention so
The ASTM E1529 hydrocarbon fire and a design hydrocarbon fire that the critical limit state may be understood and a bridge may be
scenario were used in the analysis (Figure 3). The analysis was car- appropriately designed for fire hazard. A properly protected steel
ried out by using SAFIR (14), a computer program for analysis of girder will perform significantly better in a fire, but it is a challenge
structures subjected to fire. The thermal analysis considered the slab to protect a bridge girder because of the harsh environmental con-
and beam cross section as shown in Figure 4. The girder was heated ditions experienced by most girders. More detailed studies are
from three sides (the top side was protected by the slab). The temper- needed to show if enhancing or perhaps fire-protecting a critical

(a)

3530

275
110

460x25

2485

2440x16
460x45

(b)

FIGURE 4 Layout and cross section of bridge in analysis: (a) layout of bridge (dimensions in meters)
and (b) composite girder (dimensions in mm).
Kodur, Gu, and Garlock 29

component of a steel bridge (e.g., connections) would provide of fire than because of earthquakes; yet there are no research programs
enhanced fire resistance. to address fire hazard in bridges.
Fire hazard in critical bridges can be overcome by treating fire as a
key parameter in design and analysis. Such an approach can be imple-
RESEARCH NEEDS mented through performance-based design. One of the main obstacles
to performance-based fire safety design is the limited availability of
The literature review clearly illustrates that there are no methodolo- advanced numerical models and design tools. Further, the lack of a
gies or design tools for realistic evaluation of bridge response under fire engineering framework combined with a dearth of information on
fire conditions. To develop comprehensive design, assessment, and fire scenarios and high-temperature material properties are hindering
retrofitting strategies for overcoming fire hazard in bridges, there is the application of rational approaches to fire safety design.
an urgent need for specific research and development activities: In conclusion, fire represents a significant hazard in bridges, which
may lead to structural damage, partial or complete collapse, and
• Fire scenarios for bridges should be developed. This research interruption of traffic flow in the bridge vicinity. To this end, a
described the standard ASTM E1529 hydrocarbon fire, which repre- performance-based fire safety design strategy for bridges can be
sents a diesel tanker fire. However, realistic bridge fire models that con- applied to enhance bridge fire resistance and to reduce possible fire
sider the location of the fire, different types of flammable materials, damage. There is a lack of approaches to performance-based design
and various environmental conditions should be developed. and assessment strategies for fire hazard in bridges. Research programs
• The literature review shows that most bridges, especially unpro- are crucial for developing such strategies.
tected steel girder bridges, have low fire resistance. In case of a severe
fire, the bridge may collapse in a short time. Therefore, performance-
based fire safety design strategy, followed by relevant fire protec- REFERENCES
tion measures, should be established to enhance the fire resistance of
bridges. 1. Battelle. Comparative Risks of Hazardous Materials and Non-Hazardous
• There is limited information on assessment and repair techniques Materials Truck Shipment Accidents/Incidents. FMCSA, U.S. Department
of Transportation, 2001.
for bridges damaged by fire. Rational, economic, and efficient assess-
2. Durfee, R. H. Fire Protection and Fire Prevention on Covered Bridges.
ment and repair techniques that restore the serviceability of the bridge Vermont Covered Bridge Society. www.vermontbridges.com. Accessed
after a fire should be developed. Aug. 15, 2003.
• High-temperature properties of some of the new construction 3. Guthrie, D., V. Goodwill, and M. Hicks. Tanker Fire Shuts Down I-75,
materials used in bridges should be studied in detail. New materials, Collapses Nine Mile Bridge. The Detroit News, July 16, 2009. www.det
news.com. Accessed July 17, 2009.
including high-strength concrete and fiber-reinforced polymers, are 4. Bulwa, D., and P. Fimrite. Tanker Fire Destroys Part of MacArthur Maze.
used for retrofitting and strengthening bridges. Although these repair San Francisco Chronicle, April 29, 2007. www.sfgate.com. Accessed
and retrofitting measures lead to better performance under ambient April 29, 2007.
(room temperature) conditions, the same may not be true for situations 5. Davis, M., and P. Tremel. Bill Williams River Bridge Fire Damage
Assessment and Repair. HDR Engineering, Omaha, Neb., 2007.
such as fire exposure. In many cases, these modifications might actu- 6. Davis, M., P. Tremel, and A. Pedrego. Bill Williams River Concrete
ally cause the material and structural performance under fire conditions Bridge Fire Damage Assessment. STRUCTURE, July 2008.
to deteriorate (15). However, for bridge retrofitting and strengthening, 7. Ballim, Y., and D. Silbernagl. Material and Structural Assessment of Fire
new materials may offer a convenient and cost-effective means. Since Damage to the Concrete Deck of a Motorway Bridge, Concrete Repair,
Rehabilitation and Retrofitting. Taylor & Francis Group, London, 2006,
many of these new materials have poor or unknown fire characteris- pp. 221–223.
tics, addressing their fire safety and their integration into structural sys- 8. Chen, W. F., and L. Duan. Bridge Engineering Handbook. CRC Press,
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codes and standards offer limited information concerning fire hazard.
Furthermore, about three times more bridges have collapsed because The General Structures Committee peer-reviewed this paper.