Structural Means for Fire-Safe Wooden Façade Design

This study investigates five fire stop variants used to limit the spread of fire on wooden façades. For this purpose, five fire tests using various types of wooden façade claddings and different fire stops were conducted as full-scale tests and compared to the existing findings. The influences and interactions between the material qualities of the external wall behind the façade cladding, the construction type of the wooden façade cladding, the design of the substructure, the depth of the ventilation gap, and the design of the fire stops were investigated. In evaluating the fire stops, the design of the interior corners, the joint design, and the influence of thermal expansion were examined. Finally, design proposals for the design of fire stops at wooden façades in order to limit the spread of fire were derived based on this evaluation. The outlook presents further needs that need to be investigated in the future in order to clarify undiscussed aspects or points that were ultimately not evaluated within the scope of this study. Graphical Abstract

Математическое моделирование распространения верховых лесных пожаров при наличии противопожарных разрывов и заслонов

Using the method of mathematical modeling, the process of spreading forest fires in the presence of fire breaks and barriers consisting of hardwood trees was studied. Mathematically, this problem is reduced to solving the Reynolds equations for turbulent flow, taking into account chemical reactions. To obtain a discrete analogue, the control volume method was used. Using numerical calculations, we obtained the distributions of the fields of velocity, temperature, oxygen concentrations, volatile products of pyrolysis, combustion and volume fractions of the condensed phase. The model allowed us to obtain contours of the spread of forest fires, which depend on the stock and type of forest combustible materials, moisture content, velocity and direction of wind, etc. It was also possible to determine the dependence of the sizes of fire breaks and barriers on the above parameters, at which the crown fire stops spreading.

Large Scale Fire Tests of Building Riser Cables

The National Electrical Code requires that riser cables have sufficient fire resistance so they will not spread fire from floor to floor in a shaft. Fire tests were conducted as the initial task in developing a test method for determining compliance with the Code. The tests provided data on the flame propagation characteristics of riser cables in a simulated riser shaft. The shaft design was based on information from a field survey. The data indicated that with a large ig nition source, simulating burning combustibles in a shaft without fire stops, some cables propagated fire from floor to floor; others utilizing newer fire resistive materials, did not exhibit the same propensity to promulgate fire.