In the support of a circular economy, reuse of basic building components such as structural wood is gaining increased interest. To document a safe reuse, it is necessary to evaluate the fire performance of wooden beams at the end of a building’s life. There is currently no agreement in the literature on whether years of service affects the fire performance of timber. Chorlton and Gale (1) found lower performance in timber from the 19th century compared to modern glulam, but a higher density of the latter could explain the difference. In comparison, Pánek et al. (2) found no change in fire performance after 24 months of weathering. In this study, four beams of different ages and species were exposed to the standard fire curve for an hour. Afterwards, their charring rate was measured, which is the rate at which the section of wood which can resist a load diminishes during a fire, as defined by the Eurocode 5 (3). Additionally, as each of the beam presented deep cracks due to moisture variations, their influence on the charring rate was also calculated.
Keywords: timber, fire safety, reuse, shrinkage crack
Authors
Aline Uldry
Danmarks Tekniske Universitet, Denmark
Dansk Brand- og Sikringteknisk Institut, Denmark
Claus Langhoff
Dansk Brand- og Sikringteknisk Institut, Denmark
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