In this part 8 of Experiments that changed fire science series we revisit Cardington (previously covered in part 2 - https://www.firescienceshow.com/078-experiments-that-changed-fire-science-pt-2-bre-cardington-with-tom-lennon/), but this time from the perspective of modeling the structure. My guest prof. Asif Usmani of the HK PolyU takes us on how simplifying the model led them to some fundamental discoveries on the thermo-mechanical response of structures to fires. We discuss material properties and perhaps their overestimated role in structural modelling. We go into membrane actions and the role of restraints in shaping the response of beams and slabs to thermal loads. And Asif explains to me what this means at a scale of a building frame. Some truly remarkable insights - things that today are perhaps obvious to any structural engineer, but at that time were an unknown fire behaviour.  Here are some links to the papers related to today's episode: Cardington https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0379711201000376 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0143974X01000049 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0379711204000116 WTC https://era.ed.ac.uk/handle/1842/1562 OpenSees https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10694-021-01184-0 https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Xu-Dai-4/publication/283796522_OpenSees-based_integrated_tool_for_modelling_structures_in_fire/links/5647a6b108ae451880ac4f18/OpenSees-based-integrated-tool-for-modelling-structures-in-fire.pdf Picture credit: British Steel, after "Newman G, Robinson JT and Bailey CG, Fire safe design: A new approach to multi-storey steel-framed buildings, The Steel Construction Institute, Berkshire, 2006"  Accessed through:  https://www.researchgate.net/publication/303531122_Shear_panel_component_in_the_vicinity_of_beam-column_connections_in_fire [accessed Dec 06 2023].