Effect of Thickness on Flammability and Fire Performance of Natural Wood Under Incident Heat Flux by Pilot Ignition

Abstract

In order to study the influence of natural wood thickness on the flammability and fire performance, an experimental studies of fire parameters under external constant heat flux by piloted ignition of wood timber with different thicknesses (8, 10, 13, 15 mm) were conducted using cone calorimeter approach, by testing procedure prescribed in accordance with international organization for standardization. These parameters include: ignitibility, heat release rate, effective heat of combustion, total heat release, mass loss rate, smoke specific extinction area, and the yield of carbon monoxide. Four species of wood timber, namely pine, maple, oak, and walnut, were exposed horizontally under external heat flux 50 kW/m2. Thermal degradation effects of various species were observed. The obtainable data will be reported to develop a distinct national building code in Jordan and to select the suitable materials for designing of fire safety in buildings of different uses. A good compatible agreement between calculated and experimented results has been obtained. The results indicated that total heat release rate increase with increase thickness of specimen. It is observed that, the time to ignition is very small (around 12 seconds) for all species whatever the thickness is. Heat release rate for the different types of specimens with different thicknesses have been presented. Results show as the thickness of oak specimen increased: 8 mm, 10 mm, 13 mm and 15 mm, the corresponding mass loss depletions are 43%, 34%, 25%, and 21%, respectively.