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Fire protection construction sequencing in mass timber buildings for fire safety

Timeline: 
2020-2021

Project Lead: Yelda Turkan, OSU College of Engineering

Abstract: The goals of this project are to: (a) develop a methodology to couple multiple commonly-used computational tools to evaluate the sequence of installation of passive fire protection in mass timber buildings under construction fire scenarios, (b) develop an analytical framework that can be implemented by industry to evaluate the risk and impact of fire protection construction sequencing on a job site while balancing property loss, cost, and life safety of construction workers due to a construction fire, and (c) identify knowledge gaps in fire dynamics in timber buildings that would increase the accuracy of predicting fire spread in mass timber buildings under construction.

Fire testing for efficient tall timber buildings - scoping study for adaptive reuse of the NHERI tall wood building

Timeline: 
2020-2023

Project Lead: Erica Fischer, College of Engineering, OSU

Abstract: The PIs have an opportunity to perform large-scale fire tests on a multi-story mass timber building in Corvallis, OR. Future large-scale fire tests will utilize a portion of the 10-story building being tested as a part of the Natural Hazards Engineering Research Infrastructure (NHERI) Tall Wood project

Fire Performance of Timber Beam-to-Column Connections

Timeline: 
2019 - 2022
Project Lead: Erica Fischer (PI)
Abstract:
The goals of this research are to gain a better understanding of the mechanics of timber moment-frame connections during two different fire scenarios: fire and post-earthquake fire. This research will develop the testing methodologies and benchmark data required to develop designs for the fire and post-earthquake performance of timber moment-resisting frame connections.

Mitigating Fire Performance Concern through Fire Endurance Modeling

Timeline: 
2018 - 2019

Project Lead: Arijit Sinha

 

Abstract: The Mitigating Fire Concerns project is in collaboration with the Forest Products Laboratory in Madison, Wisconsin, which has a chamber to test elevated temperatures up to 330 degrees Celsius. In the lab, the project will take the connection systems from the Composite CLT-Concrete Floor Systems for Tall Building Design project and test them over elevated temperatures to evaluate strength properties as well as how the stiffness and strength degrade at different levels of elevated temperatures.

This information will be implemented into fire models and will help to predict things like failure time.

Fire Penetration Testing

Timeline: 
2017 - 2018
Technical Advisors: David Barber, Lech Muszynski
 
Abstract: In the U.S., there is limited published information about the performance of through-penetration fire seals in cross-laminated timber floors, where the CLT is unprotected and exposed to the fire side. TDI has partnered with ARUP and the Framework project, a 12-story mass timber building project in Portland, to investigate and test through-penetrations to the ASTM E814 standard. Penetration seals were designed for five different types of penetrations–three-inch OD PVC pipe, four-inch OD stainless steel pipe, four-inch OD cast iron pipe, two-inch OD aquatherm (PP-R), and a one-and-three-fourths-inch threaded steel rod. The penetration seals were installed in five-ply CLT samples produced in the Pacific Northwest. Initial fire tests were conducted at the Western Fire Center in Kelso, Washington in September 2017 using 3M penetration seals and Hilti penetration seals. The results were promising. The remaining testing will be conducted by Hilti in partnership with TDI during the second quarter of 2018.

Fire Performance of CLT Wall and Floor Assemblies Fabricated in the Pacific Northwest Region

Timeline: 
2016 - 2020
Project Lead: Lech Muszynski
Abstract: Despite a growing body of empirical evidence generated by European, Japanese and Canadian research on the fire endurance of cross-laminated timber (CLT), a lack of full-scale U.S. testing of structural CLT manufactured within the U.S. is often cited as a major barrier to approval of the new building material for use in tall structures.  Past testing in test furnaces suggests that CLT and glue-laminated timber can outperform both light-frame timber assemblies and steel and concrete elements. This is due, in part, to the fact that in thick CLT panels a layer of charred wood forms on the exposed surface that then serves to insulate and protect the wood behind the char layer. This project will document the flammability of Douglas-fir and spruce-pine-fir CLT panel assemblies produced in the United States. 

Fire performance of CLT and NLT timber-concrete composite floors

Timeline: 
2018 - 2020

Research Team: Erica Fischer (PI), André Barbosa, Arijit Sinha 

Abstract: This project will generate critical data sets and improve research methods by accomplishing three primary tasks. It will: 1) Test the fire performance of CLT-composite floor assemblies with varying thicknesses and connections; 2) Validate a new “radiant panel” fire testing setup that could allow for better experimental flexibility and lowered costs (the first of its kind in North America); and 3) Investigate the structural capacity of fire-tested panels.