Influence of fuel type and load on fire intensity: Results from full-scale fire tests from the Woodwise project

Abstract

Over the past decade, several large-scale fire tests have been conducted by research teams across the world to evaluate the fire performance of mass timber structures to support the adoption of larger and taller mass timber structures. However, the tests conducted to date have a mobile fuel load of 680 MJ/m² or less. Additionally, the mobile fuel load used was often cellulose-based and made of either wood furniture or wood cribs. The WOODWISE project aims to enhance the understanding of fire dynamics in mass timber structures with the inclusion of modern mobile fuels and higher fuel loads. Four large-scale mass timber compartment fires were conducted in the fall of 2024. For the tests, the mobile fuel load was 798 MJ/m², which includes everything except the fixed structure (mass timber). This higher fuel load more closely represents an average dwelling. Three of the tests included furniture, electronics, appliances, and household chemicals and are compared against one test with wood cribs. The heat release rate and gas layer temperatures are measured to evaluate the fire dynamics and provide results to compare between each compartment and previous tests.

Citation

Hasburgh, Laura; Fischer, Erica C.; Barber, David; Yedinak, Kara; Holder, Amara; Coello; Nicolas; Pitari, Ines. 2025. Influence of fuel type and load on fire intensity: Results from full-scale fire tests from the Woodwise project. In: World Conference on Timber Engineering. Brisbane, Australia. June 22-26, 2025. 5145-5153. https://doi.org/10.52202/080513-0633.