SOHAR Port and Freezone is a deep-sea Port and Freezone in the Sultanate of Oman, managed by SOHAR Industrial Port Company (SIPC). The port was originally built around three industrial clusters for metals, petrochemicals, and logistics.

In the Sugar and Refinery factory project, the client raised concerns about the materials used for construction and sought validation through numerical analysis to ensure their sustainability in the event of a fire. Mechartes initially conducted a CFD smoke analysis to verify that the smoke ventilation design met the required Oman Fire Code and NFPA 92-2012 standards. The temperature on the surface of the steel members was evaluated using CFD analysis.

Subsequently, a non-linear analysis was performed to determine the stress and deflection under temperature loads, live loads, dead loads, and varying mechanical properties of steel. The maximum stresses obtained from the analysis were compared with the material’s yield strength at elevated temperatures.

Additionally, a buckling analysis was carried out at elevated temperatures and varying mechanical properties to identify critical locations for buckling during a fire scenario. This analysis included load combinations of dead load, live load, and temperature distribution obtained from the fire simulation.

Based on the results, recommendations for fire coating materials for the steel members were provided. The guidelines from standards “EN 1991-1-2:2002” and “Eurocode BS EN-1993.1.2.2005” were used for fire simulation and thermal structural analysis, ensuring the structural integrity and safety of the materials under fire conditions.