A Parametric Study on the Time-to-Failure of Wood Framed Walls in Fire

Abstract

A model has been developed for predicting the time-to-failure of gypsum board clad wood framed walls exposed to fire. This model was developed for designing wood framed walls in accordance with new performance-based building fire codes being introduced around the world. The model has been used to undertake a parametric study of the effects of a wide range of variables on the time-to-failure due to structural collapse. The study found that the most dominant variables in building construction in descending order of importance are depth and breadth of stud sections, fire temperature, thickness of gypsum board, elastic modulus of wood in compression, enthalpy of gypsum board (that is the product density and specific heat) and vertical load. Variations in the thermal properties of wood do not dominate the influences affecting the time-to-failure. The study supports the component additive method for estimating the fire resistance of walls.