Lazaros Tsantaridis

Fire protection of wood by different gypsum plasterboards

Cone calorimeter tests were performed on specimens made of pieces of wood and pieces of gypsum plasterboards protecting the wood against the heat. The thermal behaviour of the gypsum plasterboards of different origin was studied by determining the time to onset of charring and the charring rate of wood. The specimens were exposed to a constant heat flux of 50 kW/m2. The test results show that the time to onset of charring is more dependent on the board thickness than the area weight of the boards. The charring rate is fairly well predicted both by the board thickness and area weight, the latter being slightly better as a prediction parameter. The mechanical board properties needed in order to fully understand the fire protection from gypsum plasterboards were not studied in this investigation. Copyright

Charring of protected wood studs

The charring of wood studs has been studied in the cone calorimeter at constant heat flax 50 kW/m(2) and compared to data from full-scale furnace wall tests. The wood studs were unprotected or protected by gypsum plasterboards on the exposed side. Similar charring depths were found and the data analysed mainly in terms of fire exposure. A simple small-scale technique was developed to measure the heat transfer through protective boards and tbe charring depth of wood studs. These properties are essential for the load bearing capacity of wood frame structures.

Smoke production in the cone calorimeter and the room fire test

The smoke production rates for 13 different surface lining materials have been determined in the cone calorimeter at three irradiance levels: 25, 50 and 75 kW/m2. Two light systems have been used simultaneously, a helium-neon laser and a white light source, showing equal results. Different smoke parameters obtained in the cone calorimeter have been compared with those obtained in a full-scale room fire test. There seems to be a reasonable agreement which must be further studied.