https://communities.bentley.com/products/ram-staad/f/ram-staad-forum/129906/fire-protection-effectsGood day, Can STAAD pro be used to account for the additional stiffness and strength provide to steel columns from the concrete encasement (composite column sections)? I have noticed the fire protection tab in specifications and I&#39;ve read in Articleen-USTelligent Community 12https://communities.bentley.com/thread/396236?ContentTypeID=1Wed, 21 Dec 2016 18:13:30 GMT6dad98f5-dbc9-4c4d-a9ba-e9da8dc6aa8e:2af98487-f6c1-479f-940a-eaf1aa619edaSye<p>The fire proofing is not going to account for any additional stiffness.</p> <p>The following wiki has suggestions on how to model encased sections</p> <p><a href="http://communities.bentley.com/products/structural/structural_analysis___design/w/structural_analysis_and_design__wiki/17821.how-can-i-define-a-steel-section-encased-in-concrete-or-a-steel-section-with-a-concrete-core-in-staad-pro">communities.bentley.com/.../17821.how-can-i-define-a-steel-section-encased-in-concrete-or-a-steel-section-with-a-concrete-core-in-staad-pro</a></p> <p>Here is something more adventurous and I think it should work. The following wiki, although on a different topic, talks about something called a Property Reduction Factor. You may use factors greater than 1 to artificially jack up the stiffness of the members to account for the additional stiffness due to the casing</p> <p><a href="http://communities.bentley.com/products/structural/structural_analysis___design/w/structural_analysis_and_design__wiki/21656.accounting-for-cracked-concrete-section">communities.bentley.com/.../21656.accounting-for-cracked-concrete-section</a></p><div style="clear:both;"></div>