## 5 Conclusions and Future Work/Recommendations  
This research presents a finite element modelling method to investigate the thermal and structural response of unprotected and protected slim floors using commercial software (ABAQUS) and research software (SAFIR). The modelling software are employed to perform FE analysis in 2D and 3D and the thermal and structural response is replicated and verified against the recorded test data for two unprotected slim floor beam assemblies. Thermal predictions for a test on a steel member protected with the intumescent coating is later simulated and verified against the test data. The verified models are finally combined to simulate and predict the thermal and structural response of slim floor beams protected with an intumescent coating. Fire performance of slim floors, protected and unprotected are not covered by the current design codes, hence, this study may help to contribute to devising simple fire design methods for these beam types in future. Conclusions from this study and the potential future developments are listed below:  
* although the time requirements for 3D finite element modelling are significantly higher than those require for 2D modelling, both 2D and 3D finite element modelling approaches give good predictions for thermal behaviour and structural response of slim floor beams in fire. This suggests that 2D modelling is a time-saving alternative to 3D modelling of slim floor beams in fire without largely compromising on the results;
* although 2D modelling yields good reliable results, the 3D modelling method gives better predictions for the thermal and structural response of slim floors as it can accommodate the geometric variations resulting from the shape of steel docking along the length of the slim floor beams. In the case of the steel docking with more variations along the length, the accuracy of 2D modelling may be compromised;
* during the model validation process it was observed that both 2D and 3D FEM analysis predict the thermal response of intumescent coating with good agreement with the test data;
* in the case of protected slim floors, temperatures in the steel section are significantly reduced due to the presence of the intumescent coatings, resulting in better fire resistance. These observations were equally valid for both 2D and 3D modelling;
* thermal predictions obtained using 2D and 3D modelling for protected slim floors show that temperatures in the steel section remain within 400 \({}^{\circ}\)C for 60 min of standard fire exposure. This means that the strength of the steel section will largely remain available to resist the applied loads;  
Figure 13: Effectiveness of Intumescent Coating: predicted deflection for protected slim floor vs. recorded deflection for the unprotected slim floor, WFRC 67756. * protected slim floors used in this study offered a fire resistance of more than 120 min under degrees of utilisation of 0.423 and 0.3690;
* using 1200 um of intunescent coating thickness, the performance level IV can be satisfied for 120 min;
* for satisfying the displacement limit of the performance level V for 120 min, a greater thickness of the intunescent coating is necessary, because with 1200 um the limit is respected for 30 min. The current study on protected slim floors is limited to finite element modelling only, hence, future developments include experimental tests on protected slim floors to study their response in fire and to validate the results of the finite element modelling approach presented in this work. Further, more studies using FEM should be conducted to analyse the influence of the protection thickness on the response of slim floor beams in fire. Conceptualization, D.d.S. and N.A. ; methodology, D.d.S. and N.A. ; software, D.d.S. and N.A. ; validation, A.N., E.N. and F.A. ; formal analysis, D.d.S. and N.A. ; investigation, N.A. ; resources, N.A. ; data curation, D.d.S. and N.A. ; writing--original draft preparation, D.d.S. and N.A. ; writing--review and editing, D.d.S. and N.A. ; visualization, D.d.S. and N.A.