WoodRise Webinar: Fire performance of taller timber buildings
The third webinar on Taller Timber Buildings (CLT, Glulam) organized by RISE focused on Fire performance and gathered about 180 attendances the 26th of May 2021.
In the video above, you can see the webinar in its entirety afterwards
Presentations covered the development of standardization but also most recent research performed in Europe.
David Barber (Arup) presented the first outcomes of “travelling fire experiment” in the largest enclosure ever tested with a timber structure. Contrary to the expectations, a fully developed fire was observed.
Daniel Brandon (Rise) reported from the continuation of an experimental series with timber compartments where cross-laminated timber (CLT) providing glue-line integrity in fire (GLIF) was used. In nearly all scenarios burnout was achieved. In the experiments, detailing and encapsulation possibilities were tested.
Christian Dagenais (FPInnovations) told about the development of standardization in various countries with views on the past, the current status and future trends. The coming North American and European standards are a big step forward and provide re-fined models and extended application areas.
Joachim Schmid (ETH Zürich, IGNIS) reported from the Eurocode development concerning structural fire design for timber buildings. While the current standards lack rules for the consideration of the structural fuel provided by exposed timber – in the text as well as in the models – the actual draft for the fire part of Eurocode 5 comprises guidance on its consideration. Model development is ongoing and new research and its implementation in practice will be followed up by the working group.
After the presentations there was time for questions and discussion on the topic.
The organizers are thankful to the speakers for their participation and for sharing their knowledge. Each presentation is available for download below (PDF)
Fire design of exposed mass timber in open-plan offices by David Barber, Arup USA
Fire design of exposed mass timber in apartments by Daniel Brandon, RISE Sweden
Past/current/future work related to fire performance of timber systems by Christian Dagenais, FPInnovations Canada
Compartment fire design in Eurocode and advanced modeling by Joachim Schmid, ETH Zürich Switzerland