1. Principles for the fire performance of external wall systemsAndrea Lucherini, Rauan Adikey, Grunde Jomaas, Jose L. Torero, 2025, objavljeni znanstveni prispevek na konferenci Povzetek: Recent high-profile fires involving combustible façades have exposed significant gaps in both the understanding and regulation of external wall systems. Modern façade designs frequently employ polymers as insulation and/or laminated composite materials that, while improving energy efficiency, can inadvertently create pathways for vertical fire spread. Thus, there is a need to establish fundamental principles for evaluating the fire spread performance of these systems. Drawing on notable incidents, it is shown how uncontrolled flame spread can defeat compartmentation strategies, compromise occupant egress, and overwhelm firefighting efforts. Extending on previous studies, a performance-based approach to fire spread is proposed, examining four levels of relevance: material properties, product characteristics, assembly configuration, and overall building context. Key factors include combustibility, ventilation effects, and real-world variables (e.g., building characteristics). Case studies of testing methods illustrate both utility and limitations in capturing metrics relevant to façade design. Ultimately, it is advocated that there is an urgent need for rigorous, tailored assessment protocols supported by professional competence, thereby ensuring that complex external wall systems can be designed and managed to balance fire safety with sustainability and safety objectives. Ključne besede: fire safety, facades, external wall systems, fire spread Objavljeno v DiRROS: 28.11.2025; Ogledov: 178; Prenosov: 79
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2. Compartment fire dynamics in taller timber buildings : guidance for performance-based fire safety engineeringIan Pope, Antonela Čolić, Chamith Karannagodage, Ahmed Ahmed Ali Awadallah, Andrea Lucherini, 2025, samostojni znanstveni sestavek ali poglavje v monografski publikaciji Povzetek: In comparison to non-combustible construction materials commonly used for taller buildings, timber elements can significantly alter the fire dynamics in a compartment. This fundamentally challenges many of the conventional fire safety strategies and design approaches for mid-rise and high-rise buildings. Consequently, many building industry practitioners are questioning the limitations of existing methodologies, while searching for additional ways to account for this different fire behaviour in the design, construction, and operation of timber buildings. In seeking to address these questions, this chapter describes the state-of-the-art and recent advances in understanding the fire behaviour in compartments with areas of exposed timber (e.g., engineered wood products), and protected timber elements that may contribute to the fire if their encapsulation fails. Relevant experimental findings and engineering approaches to date are summarised and discussed, and design guidance is provided in relation to the typical phases of realistic or ‘natural’ fires, namely the growth phase, the fully-developed phase, the fire decay, and the cooling phase. Critical fire phenomena and their impacts on the fire safety strategy are addressed, such as fire spread; active fire suppression; heat induced delamination and char fall-off; and self-extinguishment. Ključne besede: timber, fire dynamics, fire safety, self-extinguishment, heat induced delamination, char fall-off Objavljeno v DiRROS: 18.11.2025; Ogledov: 212; Prenosov: 83
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3. Structural fire behaviourFelix Wiesner, Daniel Brandon, Andrea Lucherini, Pedro Palma, 2025, samostojni znanstveni sestavek ali poglavje v monografski publikaciji Povzetek: Fire safety and fire protection objectives require that buildings and parts of buildings do not collapse during a fire. This requires that the load-carrying capacity is maintained to a minimum acceptable level during a fire. This chapter briefly describes the historical background and state of the art of fire resistance and its determination for timber members through testing or calculations. The thermal and mechanical principles that underpin structural behaviour of wood at elevated temperatures are explained in the context of explicit calculation methods that enable explicit evaluation of the structural capacity beyond fire resistance, which is a formalised and codified assessment of structural elements against a standard fire. The importance of connections to the overall structure in fire is explained along with suitable design considerations. Ultimately, knowledge gaps with respect to novel and more complex engineered timber products for taller timber buildings are highlighted alongside potential limitations of established design parameters. Ključne besede: fire resistance, fire safety, structures, load-carrying capacity, timber, connections Objavljeno v DiRROS: 18.11.2025; Ogledov: 211; Prenosov: 88
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4. Investigating the thermal penetration in structural timber elements exposed to natural firesAndrea Lucherini, Vladimír Mózer, 2025, objavljeni znanstveni prispevek na konferenci Povzetek: This study investigates fire-induced charring and thermal penetration in structural timber elements exposed to natural fire conditions, with a focus on the critical role of the cooling phase. A simplified 1D heat transfer model, based on Eurocode 5 temperature-dependent material properties, is implemented to simulate the thermal response of timber members subjected to Eurocode parametric fire curves. The analysis quantifies the char depth (300 °C isotherm) and the zero-strength layer, using both temperature-based (80-300 °C and 120-300 °C) and reduced mechanical properties approaches (tension and compression). Results show that, while the char depth predominantly develops during the heating phase, the zero-strength layer continues to grow during cooling, often reaching a thickness comparable to the char layer. The effective char depth (char depth + zero-strength layer) typically reaches its maximum towards the end of the cooling phase, representing the most critical condition for load-bearing capacity. The most severe conditions arise in low ventilation and high fuel load scenarios, characterised by long-duration fires rather than the highest temperatures. The findings highlight the need to explicitly consider the cooling phase in performance-based fire design for timber structures. Ključne besede: timber structures, fire safety, charring, zero-strength layer, cooling Objavljeno v DiRROS: 16.07.2025; Ogledov: 429; Prenosov: 281
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5. High-Intensity Fast-Response Electric Radiant Panel (HIFREP) to impose fire equivalent heat fluxes on building elements with enhanced thermal boundary conditions accuracyFlorian Put, Balša Jovanović, Evelien Symoens, Andrea Lucherini, Bart Merci, Ruben Van Coile, 2025, izvirni znanstveni članek Povzetek: Bench-scale fire testing has gained popularity as a highly controllable and cost-effective solution, overcoming many of the shortcomings of traditional large-scale fire resistance tests. Whereas gas-fired radiant panels have demonstrated significant success in this area, the present study introduces a novel High-Intensity Fast-Response Electric radiant Panel (HIFREP). Utilizing electrically operated radiation emitters, it provides more precise and quasi-instantaneous control over the thermal boundary conditions. HIFREP delivers high and stable heat fluxes up to 105 kW/m2 , and, due to the low thermal inertia of the emitters, can rapidly adjust its output to changes in the input. In this regard, the time constant of the emitters has been found to be less than 1 s, both during heating and cooling. It eliminates gas combustion and hence avoids the need for extraction hoods when testing the fire performance of non-combustible materials, making it suitable for traditional structural testing laboratories. The presented High-Intensity Fast-Response Electric radiant Panel also provides a reliable tool for the validation of FEM simulation results by accurately replicating the thermal boundary conditions in structural fire engineering analyses. Ključne besede: radiant panel, fire testing, heat transfer, radiation, heat flux, thermal boundary conditions Objavljeno v DiRROS: 16.06.2025; Ogledov: 468; Prenosov: 96
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6. Fire safety of timber buildings – the case of photovoltaic systems : a recent exampleNik Rus, Andrea Lucherini, Grunde Jomaas, Mohammad Derikvand, 2025, drugi znanstveni članki Povzetek: Photovoltaic (PV) systems play an important role in reducing society’s dependence on carbon-based energy sources, and their coupling with timber buildings is an interesting and expected solution for meeting sustainability requirements in the modern built environment. However, both PV systems and timber structures have unique fire safety challenges, and their combination may introduce additional risks. Therefore, relevant fire hazards associated with each of the technologies and their pairing are discussed. The findings highlight the importance of revising fire testing standards and developing tailored safety measures to identify and manage these risks. Ključne besede: fire safety, timber buildings, photovoltaics, sustainability Objavljeno v DiRROS: 17.03.2025; Ogledov: 835; Prenosov: 545
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7. Predicting the effective char depth in timber elements exposed to natural fires, including the cooling phaseAndrea Lucherini, Daniela Šejnová Pitelková, Vladimír Mózer, 2023, objavljeni znanstveni prispevek na konferenci Povzetek: This paper presents a numerical study on the effect of the heating and cooling phases on the reduction of the effective cross-section of timber elements, in particular on the evolution of the char depth (300°C isotherm) and zero- strength layer. An advanced calculation method based a finite-difference heat transfer model is compared to the simplified approach suggested by Eurocode 5. For the heating phase, defined as the standard fire curve (ISO 834), the simplified Eurocode 5 method generally provides more conservative char depths, while the zero-strength layer is under-predicted. Nevertheless, the values of effective char depth are comparable. Including the cooling phase evidences that, during this phase, the heat wave penetration leads to a significant increase in the char depth and zero-strength layer. Particularly, this increase directly depends on the fire cooling rate: a slower cooling phase further reduces the effective cross-section of timber members. As a result, this research highlights how the heat wave penetration during the fire cooling phase can significantly reduce the load-bearing capacity of timber elements. Ključne besede: timber structures, fire safety, heat transfer, charring, zero-strength layer, cooling Objavljeno v DiRROS: 14.01.2025; Ogledov: 875; Prenosov: 441
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8. High-Intensity Fast-Response Electric radiant Panel (HIFREP) for increased accuracy on thermal boundary conditions during fire testingFlorian Put, Balša Jovanović, Evelien Symoens, Andrea Lucherini, Bart Merci, Ruben Van Coile, 2024, objavljeni znanstveni prispevek na konferenci Povzetek: Fire resistance tests rely on the use of standardized furnaces to apply specific thermal boundary conditions to assess the performance of construction materials and systems in fire conditions. However, these tests are very expensive and encounter challenges related to repeatability and uncertainties in establishing thermal boundary conditions. Moreover, their incapacitance to tailor experiments hinders advancements in understanding structural behaviour during fire exposure. In this work, a novel type of radiant panel, that operates on electricity, is introduced: the High-Intensity Fast-Response Electric radiant Panel (HIFREP). This innovation offers enhanced sustainability performance while ensuring more precise control over thermal boundary conditions. By eliminating the need for gas combustion, the panel can be used in a traditional structural testing lab to investigate non-combustible materials (e.g. concrete), without requiring extraction hoods and other provisions. The presented electric radiant panel system represents a significant step forward from fire resistance furnace testing. Ključne besede: radiant panel, fire testing, heat transfer, radiation, heat flux, fire safety, thermal boundary conditions Objavljeno v DiRROS: 19.12.2024; Ogledov: 806; Prenosov: 433
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9. Predicting the total wall time of CFD simulations of single-compartment firesMartin Veit, Andrea Lucherini, Georgios Maragkos, Bart Merci, 2024, objavljeni znanstveni prispevek na konferenci Povzetek: The total wall time is often difficult to predict a priori in compartment fire simulations due to dynamic phenomena that can occur, e.g., flame extinction. The wall time is dependent on multiple physical factors in the simulation, along with simulation factors and the system used to compute the model. Specifically, the CFL number of a simulation is highly influential to the wall time, as this restricts the time step size. In this paper, the prediction of the total wall time for a single-compartment fire is investigated considering varying fire heat release rates and compartment ventilation factors. It is shown that an increasing heat release rate increases the total wall time due to higher velocities inside the compartment. Furthermore, when the compartment becomes under-ventilated, the wall time becomes more difficult to predict early on in the simulation, as steady state conditions are reached later, compared to well-ventilated cases. The time at which the wall time can be accurately predicted changed from a few physical seconds in the well-ventilated case, to up to 60 physical seconds for the under-ventilated case. Ključne besede: simulations, computational fluid dynamics, fire dynamics simulator, wall time Objavljeno v DiRROS: 19.12.2024; Ogledov: 685; Prenosov: 369
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10. Experimental investigation on the effect of natural fire exposure on the post-fire behavior of reinforced concrete beams using electric radiant panelBalša Jovanović, Robby Caspeele, Edwin Reynders, Geert Lombaert, Florian Put, Andrea Lucherini, Ruben Van Coile, 2024, izvirni znanstveni članek Povzetek: In this study, the effects of natural fire exposure on the post-fire behavior of concrete beams are investigated. The study is based on laboratory tests where three reinforced concrete beams were subjected to fire exposure using an electric radiant panel. This panel enables a precise application of radiative heat exposure closely mimicking natural fire exposure in a safe manner. During the test, the deflections, deformations and temperature changes are measured for all three concrete beams. Additionally, finite element modeling (FEM) is applied to supplement these tests, demonstrating the performance of existing structural fire engineering calculation tools in evaluating the burnout performance of concrete beams. The results of the tests show that the electric radiant panel provide a novel approach for fire simulation which is effective in replicating natural fire conditions, by applying the heat flux as specified in the Eurocode Parametric Fire Curve in a highly controlled manner. The uniformity of the temperature field measured inside the beams and the consistent deformations observed during the heat exposure across all three tests underscores the accuracy of the fire simulation. Furthermore, post-fire assessments reveal that while the exposed beams suffered some reduction in load-bearing capacity, they retained a significant portion of their original strength that was consistent across all three beams. The numerical simulations conducted in this study demonstrate a high level of accuracy in predicting the behavior of the concrete beams during fire exposure. These simulations effectively mirrored the experimental results, validating that they are a valuable tool for assessing concrete structures' performance in fire scenarios. Ključne besede: concrete beam, fire testing, numerical modeling, radiant panel Objavljeno v DiRROS: 28.11.2024; Ogledov: 856; Prenosov: 337
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