Venkatesh Kodur
Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering | Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI, UNITED STATES
An internationally renowned expert in the evaluation of fire resistance of structural systems through large-scale fire experiments
Biography
Dr. Venkatesh Kodur is a University Distinguished Professor and Chairperson of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Michigan State University. He also serves as Director of the Centre on Structural Fire Engineering and Diagnostics at Michigan State University. His research interests include: Evaluation of fire resistance of structural systems through large scale fire experiments and numerical modeling and Characterization of materials under high temperature. His research contributions has lead to the development of fundamental understanding on the fire behavior of material and structural systems and also resulted in numerous design approaches and innovative and cost-effective solutions for enhancing fire-resistance of structural systems. He has published over 350 peer-reviewed papers in journals and conferences, and has given numerous invited key-note presentations. He is one of the highly cited authors in Civil Engineering and as per Google Scholar, he has more than 7900 citations with an "h” index of 51.
Prof. Kodur is a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering and a Foreign Fellow of Indian National Academy of Engineering. He is a professional engineer, Fellow of American Society of Civil Engineers, Fellow of Structural Engineering Institute, Society of Civil Engineers, Fellow of American Concrete Institute, Associate Editor of Journal of Structural Engineering, Chairman of ACI Fire Protection Committee, Chairman of ASCE-29 (Fire) Standards Committee and a member of UK-EPSRC College of Reviewers. He has won many awards including MSU University Distinguished Professor, AISC Faculty Fellowship Award, MSU Distinguished Faculty Award, NRCC (Government of Canada) Outstanding Achievement Award and NATO Award for collaborative research. Dr. Kodur was part of the FEMA/ASCE Building Performance Assessment Team that studied the collapse of WTC buildings as a result of September 11 incidents.
Industry Expertise (3)
Fire Protection
Research
Education/Learning
Areas of Expertise (3)
Building Collapse Investigation
Fire Resistance of Structural Systems
Concrete and Steel Structural Systems
Accomplishments (1)
Fellow, Royal Society of Canada's Academy of Sciences (professional)
2023
Education (3)
Queen's University: Ph.D., Structural Engineering 1992
Queen's University: M.S., Structural Engineering 1988
Bangalore University: B.S., Civil Engineering 1985
Links (2)
News (3)
Stateside Podcast: Is the Mackinac Bridge vulnerable to a freighter strike?
Michigan Public online
2024-04-17
Dr. Venkatesh Kodur, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Michigan State University, spoke to how these protections are added to existing bridges. “[Bumpers] can be implemented in the current bridges we have, but it requires a little bit of effort,” Kodur said. “For the existing bridges, it can be done, but it requires some planning, a little bit more cost than what it would have been when it was originally built.”
Mackinac Bridge Authority meets in Dimondale to discuss safety inspections
WILX 10 News
2024-04-05
Mackinac Bridge safety is drawing more public interest than usual after the tragic collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge on March 26. Michigan State University engineer, Dr. Venkatesh Kodur said the collapse was rare for Baltimore, and it would be just as rare for a Michigan bridge. Dr. Venkatesh Kodur, MSU Engineer: “So typically, they are all well designed for, most of the time, but the events which happened in Baltimore, they are called extreme events, they don’t happen all the time.”
The I-95 Collapse Is a Tragic Reminder That U.S. Bridges Are Still Built Without Fire Safety in Mind
Popular Mechanics online
2023-06-16
A steel bridge exposed to the heat of a fire can fail in 20 minutes, says Venkatesh Kodur, a Michigan State University civil and environmental engineering professor, who would like all fire-susceptible bridges in the world to be made fireproof. Kodur is the founding director of the university’s Center on Structural Fire Engineering and Diagnostics; it’s the first testing facility of its kind in the country, where researchers model all kinds of structures, including buildings, airports, tunnels, and steel bridge girders, for fire-resistant design.
Journal Articles (5)
Performance of steel beams with endplate connections exposed to fire
Advances in Structural Engineering2024 This paper presents results from an experimental study on the fire behavior of endplate joints and the connected steel beams in a moment resisting frame (MRF). Utilizing the subframe assemblage, full-scale steel beams with various endplate connections were tested according to the ISO834 standard fire exposure. The thermal and structural responses of the beam and its endplate joints to the column, together with failure modes were monitored throughout the fire test. The effect of key factors such as endplate dimensions, bolt size and grade, and the presence of stiffeners were investigated. The results of the fire tests show that the specimen experiences flexural failure in 746–773°C temperature range, through mid-span deflection exceeding the deflection limit as per British standard 476.
Fire hazard in concrete bridges: review, assessment and mitigation strategies
Structure and Infrastructure Engineering2024 This paper analyses the vulnerability of concrete bridges to fire through a comprehensive review and proposes strategies to overcome the fire hazard. As part of mitigation strategies, the application of advanced analysis is illustrated through developing a non-linear transient finite-element model for fire resistance evaluation of prestressed concrete bridge girders. The numerical model is validated using results from fire tests on concrete beams. The model is applied to investigate the effect of girder shape (rectangular and I-shaped sections) and strength of concrete (normal- and high-strength concretes) on the fire resistance of typical concrete bridge girders. Results from the analysis clearly show that fire resistance of high-strength concrete (HSC) girders is lower than that of normal-strength concrete (NSC) girders, which is attributed to its faster degradation of strength and stiffness with temperature.
A comparative study between ultra-high-performance concrete structures and normal strength concrete structures exposed to fire
Structures2024 The use of ultra-high-performance concrete (UHPC) in civil infrastructure is increasing due to its numerous advantages compared to normal strength concrete (NSC). In this research, thermal analysis of NSC and UHPC beams and columns was developed to understand and compare the fire performance of these structures. A numerical analysis was performed using finite element (FE) modeling with ABAQUS software. Compared to NSC, UHPC structures in some cases have lower fire resistance due to their slender cross-sections and unfavorable thermal properties and mechanical capacity degradation due to temperature effect. The results show that UHPC structures experience significantly higher cross-sectional temperatures when exposed to fire compared to NSC.
Comparative fire behavior of reinforced concrete beams made of different concrete strengths
Fire Technology2024 This paper presents the comparative fire performance of reinforced concrete (RC) beams made of concretes with different strengths by undertaking fire resistance tests. Four RC beams made of normal strength concrete (NSC), high strength concrete (HSC), and ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC) with different fiber combinations, were subjected to structural loading and tested under fire conditions. Results from the fire resistance tests show that UHPC beams undergo severe fire-induced spalling and exhibit lower fire resistance as compared to HSC and NSC beams. Additionally, the inclusion of polypropylene (PP) fibers in UHPC beams aids in reducing spalling and increasing fire resistance in UHPC beams.
Evaluating Shear Response of UHPC Bridge Girders Exposed to Fire
Fire Technology2024 The use of advanced materials, such as ultra-high-performance concrete (UHPC), and slender cross-sectional shapes in bridge girders can result in high susceptibility to shear failure during fire exposure. Shear limit state is usually not considered in fire design, which can be a major risk for I-shaped girders with slender webs. This paper presents the development of an approach to evaluate the shear capacity of UHPC bridge girders during fire through extension of room temperature capacity equations to elevated temperatures. Four types of standard AASHTO concrete bridge girders are analyzed under both standard and hydrocarbon fire scenarios. The output results are utilized to evaluate the progression of temperatures and deflections throughout fire exposure, as well as estimate degradation in flexural and shear capacities.
