The charring rate and charring depth of bamboo scrimber exposed to a standard fire

Abstract

SummaryTo better understand the charring properties of bamboo scrimber, a standard fire test was conducted to examine the effect of moisture content, exposure time, and grain direction on the charring rate of bamboo scrimber. The bamboo scrimber specimens were exposed to fire on one side with furnace temperatures following the requirements of ISO 834. The experimental results indicated the charring depth decreased as moisture content increased from 6% to 18%. Due to the thermal insulation of the char layer of bamboo scrimber, the charring rate decreased non‐linearly as the fire exposure time increased from 10 to 40 minutes. The charring rate of bamboo scrimber parallel to grain was approximately 1.23 times that perpendicular to grain. The non‐linear equation to express the charring rate of bamboo scrimber with moisture content, exposure time, and grain direction was established by regression analysis of the test data. The temperature of the char front was approximately 280°C, determined by heat transfer analysis of the 3‐dimensional finite element method model. Compared with different timber species in the literature and in standards, bamboo scrimber has better fire performance and a lower charring rate.