Bolted Steel Connections in Fires

Bolts are critical components in structural steel connections that effectively govern their performance, particularly during fires where robustness becomes an important factor.

In this webinar, Civil Engineer, Andrew Foster, explores the fundamental ways in which bolted connections can fail and some of the options available to achieve better performance.

About Andrew Foster (taken from Hawkins website):

Andrew is a Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers (FICE) and a Chartered Engineer (CEng) with the Institution of Civil Engineers (MICE) and the Institution of Structural Engineers (MIStructE).

Andrew graduated from the University of Bath in 2003 with a first-class BSc degree in economics, focusing on mathematical economics and econometrics. During this time he undertook a 12-month placement year as an economist at the Bank of England. After graduating, he pursued a two-year conversion MSc (incorporating a Graduate Diploma) in civil engineering at UCL, which he completed in 2009 with a distinction. In collaboration with the Buildings Research Establishment (BRE), he completed his PhD in 2014 at Imperial College London, investigating the stability and design of steel beams in the strain-hardening range. This research involved an extensive period of laboratory investigation.

Andrew then worked as a Design Approval Engineer for Det Norske Veritas (DNV) on a range of offshore structures and installations. His work involved undertaking a number of different analysis approaches, including non-linear and dynamic, and working across a wide range of international codes and standards. In 2015, Andrew joined the Earthquake and People Interaction Centre (EPICENTRE) at UCL as a Research Associate. During this period, he undertook ground-breaking research into tsunami loading on buildings, developing a set of new force equations for design. This work involved working closely with HR Wallingford and undertaking a substantial programme of laboratory testing.

Continuing his period in academia, Andrew was appointed as a University Lecturer in structural engineering at the University of Manchester in 2017. During his tenure, Andrew conducted and led a significant body of research into steel structures, leading a group of doctoral researchers and post-docs. Concurrently he was involved in a number of collaborative industry projects, most notably research into graphene enhanced concrete with Nationwide Engineering and the Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre. He was also responsible for teaching approximately 200 students each year and was a director of postgraduate research in the department. Andrew was an elected member of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) Early Career Forum in Engineering and remains an elected member of the EPSRC Peer Review College in Engineering. He is an invited reviewer for numerous leading international journals, including Thin-Walled Structures, Structures and the ASCE Journal of Structural Engineering. Andrew is the author of 25 scientific articles, all of which are published in internationally leading journals. He is an external PhD examiner for the University of London and UCL.

In 2021, Andrew joined COWI’s Bridge Practice in London, working predominantly on existing bridges. His work involved performing structural assessments, producing concept designs, and developing repair solutions. His most recent work was on the Hammersmith Bridge, for which he was the modelling lead for the concept design that was accepted as the preferred solution by the client.

Andrew joined Hawkins in 2023 and he is an Associate in our London office.