Work

Numerical Simulation of the Thermal Effect of Firebrand Deposition on External Composite Walls

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: This paper presents research concerning simulating the thermal firebrand effect due to its accumulation in exterior construction wall elements by developing a 3D finite element model (FEM) via ABAQUS (2022) software to analyze the exterior walls commonly applied to the exterior of dwellings in southern Europe and South America. A non-linear thermal transient analysis is undertaken, in which the results are directly compared with a previous experimental campaign, in which firebrands are deposited on localized surfaces of construction wall specimens, and the temperature is measured in the several layers of the construction elements. The walls are composite elements, made of different layer combinations of masonry brick and wood, varying the type of thermal insulation in the internal core from cork to classical rigid rockwool and polystyrene foam (XPS). It can be summarized from the results that the FEM effectively simulates the thermal response of brick, normal wood (NW), and cross-laminated timber (CLT) walls when insulated with materials like cork or rockwool coated with mortar against firebrand accumulation. However, the lack of accounting for uncontrolled combustion leads to inconsistent results. Additionally, for walls using XPS as the insulation material, the model requires further refinement to accurately simulate the melting phenomenon and its thermal impact.

Source: Journal of Composites Science

DOI: 10.3390/jcs9040151

Authors: Mohamed Zitouni, Antonio Renato Albuquerque Bicelli, Mário Rui Tiago Arruda, Fernando Branco

Institutions: Civil Engineering Research and Innovation for Sustainability, IST-ID - Associação do Instituto Superior Técnico para a Investigação e Desenvolvimento, University of Lisbon, Instituto Superior Técnico, National Laboratory for Civil Engineering

Language: English

Topic: Fire dynamics and safety research

Subfield: Safety, Risk, Reliability and Quality

Field: Engineering

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $2,172

Funder: Civil Engineering Research and Innovation for Sustainability