Building Construction for Fire Protection - Essay Example

Also, in lieu of this situation, even though there are many fire-resistant materials that are commercially available which can be installed in the building, steel plates that connect these trusses are still susceptible to the pressure of heat and temperature. There is a threshold for the bending and misalignment of these plates which will eventually lead to tensile forces tearing the truss apart.             Finally, the natural degradation of lightwood truss due to moisture or pests which break down its consistency is an essential factor to consider in assessing the risk factor in truss systems.

Of course, the mass and density, or perhaps even the quality of the wood used in the construction will surely affect the endurance of the truss under stressful conditions.             Keeping all of these factors in mind, in this particular analysis, it is important to remember that any collapse is not the sole function of fire burning the truss; instead, it is a combination of fire, heavy structural load, and, possibly, water that may have collected in the truss (Grundahl, 1992).