FIRE IN MODERN TIMBER BUILDING DESIGN

摘要

This paper reviews the fire performance of timber construction, showing that timber buildings can be designed and constructed with as much fire safety as buildings of any other material. Designing timber buildings for fire safety requires special attention because wood is a combustible material. Fire spread on combustible surfaces can be controlled by limiting the area of exposed surfaces or by using materials treated with fire retardants. Certain critical building elements must be provided with fire resistance to prevent spread of fire or structural collapse. Fire resistance of light timber frame can be provided with gypsum board linings, but the results of fire resistance tests may over-estimate the time to failure in real fires. Heavy timber has inherent fire resistance through its predictable charring rate and dependable strength of the residual cross section. Automatic sprinkler systems are recommended for all large or special buildings, regardless of the building materials.