Abstract
Fire safety remains a major challenge for engineered timber buildings. Their combustible nature challenges the design principles of compartmentation and structural integrity beyond burnout, which are inherent to the fire resistance framework. Therefore, self-extinction is critical for the fire-safe design of timber buildings.This paper is the first of a three-part series that seeks to establish the fundamental principles underpinning a design framework for self-extinction of engineered timber. The paper comprises: a literature review introducing the body of work developed at material and compartment scales; and the design of a large-scale testing methodology which isolates the fundamental phenomena to enable the development and validation of the required design framework.Research at the material scale has consolidated engineering principles to quantify self-extinction using external heat flux as a surrogate of the critical mass loss rate, and mass transfer or Damköhler numbers. At the compartment scale, further interdependent, complex phenomena influencing self-extinction occurrence have been demonstrated. Time-dependent phenomena include encapsulation failure, fall-off of charred lamellae and the burning of the movable fuel load, while thermal feedback is time-independent. The design of the testing methodology is described in reference to these fundamental phenomena.
Highlights
Timber structures are increasingly being incorporated into modern medium and high-rise buildings due to their appealing aesthetics and sustainability credentials [1]
The most common design approach to date for multiple mass timber medium and high-rise buildings has been based on the use of encapsulation. The intent behind this approach is to be able to use the conventional ‘reaction-to-fire’ (e.g. Ref. [6]) and ‘fire-resistance’ (e.g. Ref. [7]) frameworks established for non-combustible structures. This approach has made it into pre scriptive solutions in building codes; e.g. the Building Code of Australia (BCA) [8], based on the work led by Forest and Wood Products Australia [9] or the 2018 and 2021 International Building Code (IBC) [10,11] and International Fire Code (IFC) [12] changes in the USA [13], which allow the use of mass timber structures for buildings with limited height and with an encapsulation system, such as fire-rated plasterboard
This paper presents a review of existing literature on the subject and a methodology to enable the formulation and validation of a self-extinction design framework
Summary
Timber structures are increasingly being incorporated into modern medium and high-rise buildings due to their appealing aesthetics and sustainability credentials [1]. [7]) frameworks established for non-combustible structures This approach has made it into pre scriptive solutions in building codes; e.g. the Building Code of Australia (BCA) [8], based on the work led by Forest and Wood Products Australia [9] or the 2018 and 2021 International Building Code (IBC) [10,11] and International Fire Code (IFC) [12] changes in the USA [13], which allow the use of mass timber structures for buildings with limited height and with an encapsulation system, such as fire-rated plasterboard. In Europe, building height restrictions for using timber as loading bearing elements or exposed linings vary from country to country [19] Whereas these changes in prescriptive requirements might be deemed to provide a path forward for mass timber structures in the built environment, encapsulating mass timber reduces some of the benefits of timber construction, e.g. appealing aesthetics, environmental benefits, or construction speed. A consolidated framework based on fundamentals can be devel oped, which enables verifiably safe and confident usage of mass timber
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