Date of Publication :31st May 2024

Abstract:Small scale cone calorimeter tests have been carried out to study the fire performance of timber species for various densities, thicknesses, and heat flux exposure on local Australian timber species commonly used in the building industry. The testing was undertaken in accordance with the Australian Standard AS 3837 which is based on the ISO 5660 standard. The tests were undertaken for Ironbark, Grey (hard timber), Beech, Myrtle (firm timber) and Pine, Radiata (soft timber) with ranging densities between 450 – 1120 kg/m3, thicknesses of 9mm and 19mm and with heat flux exposure of 25 and 50 kW/m2. Beech, Myrtle was further tested to 75 kW/m2 to compare the characteristics of timber at this elevated heat flux exposure. Ironbark exhibited the best fire performances in most of the parameters analysed but the worst in heat release rate (HRR) and mass loss rate (MLR) values compared to Beech and Pine. Beech exhibited the best fire performance in HRR and MLR values. Several trends of fire characteristics were obtained with various parameters: density, thickness and heat flux from the testing undertaken. This study is aimed to enhance and provide a better understanding of local Australian timber species commonly used in the building industry and to initiate a set of test data which can be used for future fire engineering and modelling works. Future work studying the composition and other factors of various different timbers are important to be undertaken to further understand the driver of the fire behaviours in various timber species.

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