Light Timber-Framed Walls Exposed to Compartment Fires

Abstract

The objective of this project was to determine the equivalent time of exposure (to the ISO-834 standard fire), for a number of light timber-framed wall assemblies exposed to a range of time temperature curves characteristic of compartment fires.This analysis considered only the thermal behavior of the walls. Load bearing performance will be the subject of the next phase of the study.The overall method was as follows.(1) The data from four full-scale ISO-834 wall tests were used to calibrate a finite element model of the wall assembly developed using the TASEF program. Subsequently the model was validated using test on walls with different layouts.(2) A set of characteristic time-temperature curves for compartment fires was developed using the computer program COMPF-2, a post-flashover compartment fire model.(3) The finite element models of the walls developed in Step 1 were subjected to the time temperature curves developed in Step 2.(4) The temperatures within the wall assembly found in Step 3 were compa...