In order to evaluate their fire resistance, fires doors are subjected to standard fire endurance tests. The certification process of fire doors requires to verify that the door satisfies specific requirements, related to the mean temperature which develops on the surface not exposed to the fire, or to the gap between the door leaf and frame. A realistic simulation of the heating process is crucial in order to reduce as much as possible the number of fire tests during the design phase. The problem of defining a Finite Element model (FEM) of a fire door and of its supporting frame is then dealt with, and the model developed is here validated through a comparison with experimental measurements. The proposed approach can be a valid tool for the prediction of thermo-mechanical performances of a naval
fire door, and it is used as a starting point for the determination of
innovative configurations of the product. In particular, a novel design of the supporting frame and of the door leaf is evaluated, and the related prototypes of are tested numerically and experimentally.