Previous timber fire compartment experiments have focussed on small footprint structures used mainly for residential buildings. If timber structural systems are to be used safely in offices and educational buildings, it is necessary to consider their fire performance in much larger compartments.
With input from Hazelab at Imperial College London, the Arup fire safety team has been working at CERIB, a professional fire test facility in France – on a series of four full-scale fire experiments using a 380 m2 combustible compartment. The size of the compartment represents an office of approximately 40 people.
The presentation will be given by David Barber, Arup’s Principal Fire Engineer, on mid-rise and high-rise timber buildings. He will describe the research program and the outcomes of the 4 experiments conducted over the last 12 months.
In addition to David’s presentation Paul England, principal at EFT Consulting, will discuss the proposed fire compartment test planned for Australia. This new work leverages previous work and takes the research to the next level.