Facade Fire Hazards of Bench-Scale Aluminum Composite Panel with Flame-Retardant Core

Abstract

Facade fires in tall buildings are currently occurring more than once a month globally that are responsible for many casualties and billions of dollars in losses. In particular, the tragic Grenfell Tower fire in London caused more than 70 fatalities raised the profile of facade fire hazard. This work used well-controlled irradiation up to 60 kW/m 2 to re-assess the fire hazard of typical flame-retardant aluminum composite panels (ACPs). We found that the vertically oriented ACPs with the "noncombustible" (A2-grade) and "limited-combustible" (B-grade) cores could still be ignited above 35 kW/m 2 and 25 kW/m 2 , after the front aluminum layer peeled off. The peak heat release rate of these ACPs could be higher than common materials like timber and PVC. Moreover, compared to the B-core panel, the A2-core panel showed a greater fire hazard in terms of a shorter ignition delay time, a higher possibility of the core peel-off, and a longer flaming duration. It is because the ACP is a complex system, and its fire hazard is not simply controlled by the core material. The structure failure of ACP in fire, including peel-off, bending, softening and cracking, could further increase the fire hazard. This research improves our understanding of the systematic fire behaviors of facade panels and helps rethink the fire risk and test methods of the building facade.

Fire Behaviour of Insulation Panels Commonly Used in High-Rise Buildings

“…The current study assumes three different fire exposure scenarios for the test specimen (Figure 7): (a) direct fire exposure on combustible core materials, (b) fire exposure of sandwich panel with FR outer layer, and (c) damaged or espoused components of sandwich panel. The outer layer of the sandwich panel could separate during an actual fire, exposing the core materials to the flames [31]. In some cases, the sandwich panels with combustible cores can be exposed to fire while being protected by the outside FR layers.…”

Fire Hazards by Aluminum Composite Cladding in High-Rise Buildings

“…The separation between the external facade and internal wall performs additional functions other than ventilating the building's interior. These functions include facilitating acoustic and thermal protection of the building's interior against external hot conditions, Khan et al (2021). Due to these functions and applications of ACP, the material's external covering is critical to the design of the building.…”

“…Due to these functions and applications of ACP, the material's external covering is critical to the design of the building. The exterior covering comprises excellent material that fosters energy conservation and ventilation while enhancing the building's structural stability and protecting against adverse weather, Khan et al (2021). Therefore, ACPs' are effective architectural and building design cladding materials regardless of location, building shape and type of construction utilized.…”

“…Suitable application areas for aluminum composite planes are regions with high fire protection necessities. These regions require non-combustible materials utilized in the building's exterior, Khan et al (2021). Moreover, applications of aluminum composite panels occur in high-rise residential buildings and commercial buildings exhibiting high-fire risks.…”

Integrated nonlinear structural simulation of composite buildings in fire

“…Thermally efficient cladding systems, for example, were amongst the factors that led to the tragic and deadly Grenfell Tower disaster [1,2]. The risks posed by these systems are often not fully mitigated, and the resulting fires may grow and spread in uncontrollable ways [3]. Another hidden risk arises from the large open spaces that almost completely alter the fire behaviour from the well-established small-compartment-focused standard and parametric temperature-time curves [4,5].…”