A platform for research: civil engineering, architecture and urbanism
A platform for research: civil engineering, architecture and urbanism
Fire Safety of CLT Buildings with Exposed Wooden Surfaces
An increasing number of tall buildings made of CLT have been built in recent years. Current architectural trends involve having visible timber surfaces in these tall CLT structures. This results in new fire safety challenges, especially because fire service interference is increasingly difficult for increasingly tall buildings. Recently, a number of research projects involving large scale compartment fire testing studied the development of fires in (1) compartments with a fully encapsulated CLT structure and (2) compartments with exposed CLT surfaces. The studies have shown that sufficient gypsum board protection can avoid the involvement of CLT in a fire. However, fall-off of the base layer of gypsum boards during can result in continuous fires that do not extinguish without fire surface interference, as during fall-off large areas of initially protected timber surfaces start to contribute as fuel to the fire. If CLT is exposed to a fire, fire induced delamination of CLT (also lamella fall-off or char fall-off) could occur due to weakening of bond lines within the CLT. During fire induced delamination the exposed lamella falls from the CLT and a new relatively cold timber surface becomes exposed to potentially high temperatures, which effectively makes additional fuel suddenly available to a fire. Very recent studies involved the development of CLT products that are not subject to delamination. The studies indicate that the use of (a) sufficient fire protection, (b) CLT products with thermally resistant adhesives and (c) a limit regarding the surface area of CLT that can be exposed, result in fires that decay and eventually self-extinguish. This paper reviews the studies and includes a summary of conclusions.
Fire Safety of CLT Buildings with Exposed Wooden Surfaces
An increasing number of tall buildings made of CLT have been built in recent years. Current architectural trends involve having visible timber surfaces in these tall CLT structures. This results in new fire safety challenges, especially because fire service interference is increasingly difficult for increasingly tall buildings. Recently, a number of research projects involving large scale compartment fire testing studied the development of fires in (1) compartments with a fully encapsulated CLT structure and (2) compartments with exposed CLT surfaces. The studies have shown that sufficient gypsum board protection can avoid the involvement of CLT in a fire. However, fall-off of the base layer of gypsum boards during can result in continuous fires that do not extinguish without fire surface interference, as during fall-off large areas of initially protected timber surfaces start to contribute as fuel to the fire. If CLT is exposed to a fire, fire induced delamination of CLT (also lamella fall-off or char fall-off) could occur due to weakening of bond lines within the CLT. During fire induced delamination the exposed lamella falls from the CLT and a new relatively cold timber surface becomes exposed to potentially high temperatures, which effectively makes additional fuel suddenly available to a fire. Very recent studies involved the development of CLT products that are not subject to delamination. The studies indicate that the use of (a) sufficient fire protection, (b) CLT products with thermally resistant adhesives and (c) a limit regarding the surface area of CLT that can be exposed, result in fires that decay and eventually self-extinguish. This paper reviews the studies and includes a summary of conclusions.
Fire Safety of CLT Buildings with Exposed Wooden Surfaces
Brandon, Daniel (author) / Just, Alar (author)
2018-01-01
Conference paper
Electronic Resource
English
Fire Safety of CLT Buildings with Ex-posed Wooden Surfaces : Summary Report
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