MODELLING A CLT SPECIMEN PROTECTED WITH GYPSUM EXPOSED TO PARAMETRIC FIRE CURVE HEAT FLUX

Abstract

This paper models bench-scale experiments using computational fluid dynamics (CFD). The experiments measured the temperature profiles of fire-protectedcross laminated timber (CLT) specimens exposed to parametric fire curve. The bench-scale experiment specimen is 250 x 250 mm and consists of a CLT panel 100 mm with three layers of gypsum plasterboard 15.5 mm as thermal and fire insulation The specimens were exposed to a heat flux generated by aheat-transfer rate inducing system (H-TRIS) device. Two numerical models were created in order to copy the experiment conditions, one by using basic modelling techniques and one using advanced method. Comparing the layer temperature values of the experiment and basic model, a great difference was found. The difference between experimental and model temperatures increases the closer the analysed layer is to the heat source. The results show a good agreement between the model and the experiments, especially for the advanced numerical model.