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Fire test

Fire Safe Implementation of Mass Timber In Tall Buildings

Research of the fire performance of CLT and Glued Laminated Timber buildings, with visible wood surfaces.

Click here for:

Final Project Report

Summary Report

Predictive Modeling Report

Facade Exposure Report

Post-fire repair Report and Video

Project Youtube Channel

Mass timber materials, such as Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT) and glued laminated timber, are increasingly popular as structural materials for large and tall buildings. There is a drive to implement visible surfaces mass timber in buildings to meet architectural demands, which involves a number of fire safety challenges identified in previous studies. As a result of recent adhesive technologies and the implementation of stricter requirements for adhesive performance in some countries, such as by ANSI/APA PRG 320 (2018), there is an increased potential to expose mass timber safely and expect potential fires to decay in the event sprinklers are ineffective and fire service intervention of the fire brigade is severely delayed.

The main aim of this research project is to identify safe limits of exposed mass timber surface areas that correspond with performance criteria used for previous U.S. Building Code Changes.

The project includes:

  • 5 real-scale compartment fire test and analysis
  • Statistical analysis for the design of realistic compartments
  • Predictive modeling of the fire dynamics & model development
  • Case study of repairing a fire damaged structure
  • Case studies of Extinguishment of smouldering with less water

Shared Raw Data of the fire tests can be found here.

Compartment Fire Test 1: Ceiling (CLT and Glulam) exposed
Compartment Fire Test 2: Ceiling (CLT and Glulam), Left CLT wall , Right CLT wall exposed
Compartment Fire Test 3: Ceiling (CLT and Glulam), Left CLT wall , Front wall (CLT and Glulam), Majority of Right CLT wall exposed
Compartment Fire Test 4 (representative for office building layout): Ceiling (CLT and Glulam), Left CLT wall , Front wall (CLT and Glulam), Right CLT wall exposed - Only back wall protected

Downloadable reports:

Final Project Report (pdf, 22.21 MB)

Facade Exposure Report (pdf, 13.86 MB)

Supports the UN sustainability goals

11. Sustainable cities and communities
12. Responsible consumption and production
13. Climate action
Johan Sjöström

Contact person

Johan Sjöström

+46 72 565 58 55

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