This research is part of a broader effort to understand and predict the fire performance of various types of wood-based assemblies employed in buildings and residential dwellings. According to some large-scale fire testing of different wood floor assemblies conducted by UL, an unprotected floor constructed using an engineered I-joist collapsed much sooner than an unprotected floor constructed using traditional lumber. This research was motivated by a concern, over the years, of reports on firefighter fatalities and injuries from collapsing floors. To understand and predict the behavior of wood-based products and constructions, testing can provide some answers. Complementing testing with computed based engineering analysis tools based on finite element methods can provide greater insight and large data sets for effective decision making and policy changes. This research specifically focused on the fire performance of two types of wood products common in residential constructions: traditional lumber and engineered wood. For both types, fire tests were conducted on individual beams and flooring systems according to standard fire tests in a furnace. The purpose of this building block approach was to assist with FE model trouble shooting and validation. In this paper, results for the modeling of the wood beams will be presented while details for the floor modeling can be found elsewhere (1).
展开▼
