Work

Decay and residual burning in mass timber enclosures

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: A series of experiments were conducted to investigate the influence of enclosure parameters (ventilation size/geometry, and thermal properties and thickness of boundaries) on the decay, residual burning and extinction when mass timber panels were present on the enclosure floor and ceiling. The experiments were designed to eliminate the occurrence of stochastic phenomena such as heat-induced delamination and encapsulation failure; they were also designed to control the decay of the non-timber fuel. A range of outcomes were observed including continued flaming, continued smouldering and complete extinction. The ventilation geometry and thermal properties of the non-timber enclosure linings were shown to significantly influence decay and residual burning. Energy losses were dominated by convection (85%). Conduction comprised between 0.4 and 8.3% of the total losses for most cases – although when steel linings were used, this increased to 32.4%. Following a scaling analysis, the residual burning was shown to scale with a characteristic time scale ( ) while the decay rate scaled with the thermal resistance of the linings ( , where δ is the thickness of the lining). A correlation was observed between residual burning and ventilation factor.

Source: Fire Safety Journal

DOI: 10.1016/j.firesaf.2025.104502

Authors: Ahmed Ahmed Ali Awadallah, Rory M. Hadden, Angus Law

Institutions: Danish Institute of Fire and Security Technology, University of Edinburgh

Language: English

Topic: Fire dynamics and safety research

Subfield: Safety, Risk, Reliability and Quality

Field: Engineering

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,770

Funders: Innovationsfonden, University of Edinburgh, Danish Agency for Science and Higher Education