Presented in this paper are the results of a numerical study on bushfire, wind and structure interactions. The association of bushfires with wind has long been recognized. However, the mechanism of their interaction has not received due attention. In the current study a computational fluid dynamics package was used to reveal the enhancement of wind by fires at scales comparable to buildings and the impact on buildings. The study also revealed a pulsation movement of flames under the influence of free stream wind conditions. The predicted pressure coefficient distribution around a building under no-fire condition was compared with the experimental result measured by others. Reasonably good agreement was obtained before a fire was added to reveal the impact of the fire.KEYWORDS: CFD, modeling, pressure coefficient, pulsation, velocity, wildfires. NOMENCLATURE LISTINGnormalized power spectrum (energy fraction at given frequency) (s)

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The energy efficiency of buildings drives the replacement of traditional construction materials with lightweight insulating materials. However, energy-efficient but combustible insulation might contribute to the building’s fire load. Therefore, it is necessary to analyse the reaction-to-fire properties of various insulating materials to provide a better understanding of designing a fire-safe structure. In this study, reaction-to-fire tests were carried out to assess the fire behaviour of lightweight polystyrene insulating panels commonly employed in high-rise buildings. The flammability characteristics of expanded polystyrene (EPS) and extruded polystyrene (XPS) were determined using a cone calorimeter under two distinct external irradiance regimes, 35 kW/m2 and 50 kW/m2, to approximate small to medium fire exposure situations. To investigate the effect of a fire-rated (FR) foil layer on a sandwich panel, three distinct test configurations were used: (i) sample without FR layer (standard sample), (ii) sample with FR layer (FR foil), and (iii) damaged layer (foil and vent) for EPS. Except for the smoke toxicity index (STI), the overall fire performance of EPS is superior to that of XPS. The findings of this study are useful in analysing fire performance and fire safety design for lightweight insulation panels.

This paper investigates aluminium composite panels (ACPs) to understand the fire behaviour of combustible cladding systems under different fire scenarios. A fire dynamics simulator (FDS) is used to develop the numerical model of full-scale fire tests of combustible cladding systems using the procedures of the British BS 8414.1 standards. The results obtained from the FDS models are verified with test data. Seven test scenarios are investigated with four distinct parameters, i.e., cavity barrier, air-cavity gap, panel mounting (with and without joining gaps between the panels), and material combustibility qualities. A critical air-cavity gap (50–100 mm) is established at which maximum fire spread is noticed. Furthermore, variations in the cavity barrier, panel mounting, and material combustibility significantly impact the rapid fire spread of ACP cladding systems and the internal failure criterion. The results from the present study can serve as a basis for future research on the full-scale fire-test development of combustible ACPs.

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