Structural Fire Modeling Strategies for Exposed Mass Timber Compartments and Experimental Gaps for Model Validation

Review of fire experiments in mass timber compartments: Current understanding, limitations, and research gaps

“…Imaging is an important tool in large‐scale compartments where travelling fires may occur as it is challenging to define the flame location throughout the experiment without direct visual observation. Flame spread in timber compartments is highlighted as a key gap in instrumentation required to support model validation by Philion et al, 7 as flame spread is an important phenomenon in large open‐plan compartment fires. The number of experiments using key modes of instrumentation is depicted in Figure 9.…”

“…B. a thermal model that resolves how the timber element chars and responds to the given conditions C. a structural model that calculates the thermo-mechanical response of the timber to determine its structural capacity over time 7 Key modelling types listed in A-C are given with proposal for potential methods of application in Figure 3. These models vary in complexity (both in terms of simplicity of assumptions and computational complexity) and can be coupled to each other (e.g., a parametric fire curve can be coupled to a pyrolysis model, such as that carried out by Richter et al 8,9 ) However, for the models to be appropriately accurate and grounded in the current understanding of fire dynamics in timber compartments, experimental studies are required to verify and validate each approach.…”

“…Depending on the desired outputs of a given modelling approach, modelling tools for timber compartments follow three categories, as outlined in Figure 3: a design fire that provides thermal conditions that the timber element is subjected to a thermal model that resolves how the timber element chars and responds to the given conditions a structural model that calculates the thermo‐mechanical response of the timber to determine its structural capacity over time 7 …”