Fire engineering design framework for mass timber buildings

Thursday 3 September 2020   |   2.00pm – 3.30pm (AEST)

$25 IFE members  |   $35 non IFE members
This event attracts 1.5 hours of CPD - total CPD hours will be based on the time you were online and interacting. 

 

The Institution of Fire Engineers Australia (IFE) will be hosting a series of online CPD events following the postponement of the IFE20 Conference in Adelaide due to COVID-19.

 

Event description:

Mass timber construction is becoming the emerging norm for modern, sustainable buildings due to the numerous benefits of engineered timber structures.

Nevertheless, timber is a combustible material that poses a fire hazard to be considered explicitly in the quantitative design of fire safety strategies for medium and high-rise buildings. Large surfaces of exposed engineered timber such as cross-laminated timber, used as floors and walls in building compartments, challenge the primary objectives of any fire safety strategy (i.e. egress, compartmentation and structural stability).

Due to their combustible nature, exposed mass timber structures may be able to affect the dynamics of the fire within the compartment and the external plume, and burn continuously under specific conditions until structural collapse. Quantification of such phenomena is thus critical for the development of adequate performance-based designs of tall timber buildings.

This presentation will provide an overview of critical research questions that need to be addressed for enabling a fire safety design framework for timber buildings. Highlights from the research developed by The University of Queensland within the ARC Future Timber Hub will be presented. The primary focus of this research is the development of an engineering methodology for quantifying self-extinction of unprotected cross-laminated timber used in compartments.

Self-extinction corresponds to the ceasing of flaming combustion, a condition necessary to enable the concept of burnout required for the design principles of compartmentation and structural stability. Failure to achieve self-extinction in compartments may be caused by several factors, which include an excessive ratio of exposed timber surfaces, encapsulation failure, or the fall-off of charred timber lamellae. 

 

Guest Speaker:

Dr Juan P Hidalgo
Senior Lecturer, The University of Queensland

Dr Juan P. Hidalgo is a Senior Lecturer in Timber and Fire Safety Engineering within the School of Civil Engineering at The University of Queensland. He is an academic staff for the UQ Civil Engineering and Fire Safety Engineering degrees, accredited by Engineers Australia. His research to date has primarily focused on the performance of building materials for sustainable and durable construction exposed to fire conditions. His field of expertise comprises thermal decomposition and flammability of materials, heat transfer, and fire dynamics. Along with the Fire Safety Engineering Research Group, he is currently leading research on the fire safety of timber structures and façades. He is a key researcher in the ARC Future Timber Hub, focused on the development of a self-extinction engineering framework for unprotected mass timber structures.

 

Online format:

This webinar will be hosted using the Zoom platform. You will be able to join using the Zoom app or a web browser. Once you have registered, the link to the Zoom page will be included in confirmation email.

If you do not receive a confirmation email, or if you have issues with the link, please contact the AFAC Events Team, who are supporting IFE to host this webinar series.