Behaviour of load bearing double stud LSF walls in fire

Abstract

In the residential sector single stud LSF walls are commonly used as load bearing and non-load bearing walls. But in situations where higher acoustic insulation levels and load bearing capacities are required, double stud LSF walls are used. However, fire performance of double stud LSF walls has not been investigated adequately unlike in the case of single stud LSF walls. There is insufficient research data on the fire performance of double stud wall systems. Therefore, this research investigated the fire performance of double stud walls under standard fire conditions using full scale test panels (3\u202fm\u202f×\u202f3\u202fm) made of 90\u202fmm lipped channel studs. Three full-scale fire tests were conducted to investigate the fire performance of load bearing double stud LSF walls. The fire test results of double stud LSF walls were then compared with those of single stud LSF walls with varying stud depth. The results revealed the presence of a unique heat transfer mechanism, resulting in an enhanced fire performance for double stud walls. The discontinuous stud arrangement within the cavity of double stud LSF walls was identified as the main contributor for the delayed heat transfer mechanism. This paper presents the details of this research and its results. It has also shown that the Direct Strength Method (DSM) based fire design equations developed for single stud LSF walls can be used to predict the failure times of double stud LSF walls exposed to fire.