The use of mass timber in construction is becoming increasingly popular in many regions of the world because it is both environmentally benign and fire-resistant. Mass timber underwent a fire test in an experiment, and the results highlighted the material's capacity to withstand various uncommon worst-case fire scenarios.
(Photo : Unsplash/Poul Cariov )
Mass Timber's Fire Test
In the summer of 2022, the National Research Council of Canada conducted five experiments on structures made of mass timber. The trials were carried out at the Canadian Explosives Research Laboratory in Ottawa, inside a full-scale mass timber structure two stories tall and 334 square meters in size. Extensive hours were spent without the use of sprinklers and the assistance of firefighting personnel.
The results indicated that despite being subjected to five distinct fire tests of variable durations and severity and a cumulative total of 19 hours of fire exposure, the test structure remained stable and sound under severe, unsprinkled fire conditions involving exposed structural mass timber.
As mentioned, mass timber buildings perform similarly to noncombustible construction even in highly uncommon worst-case fire situations, in which sprinklers have failed and firefighters cannot reach a flame. The tests demonstrated the use of mass timber as a safe construction material. Moreover, localized breakdown did not result in re-ignition or fire regrowth in any uncovered cross-laminated timber ceilings subjected to the cooling period during the experiments.
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Advantages and Disadvantages of Using Mass Timber
Mass timber is an environmentally friendly construction material composed of glulam columns and cross-laminated timber panels (CLT), which are glued together from layers of wood. Many advantages are associated with this building material, including the decrease in waste, the speed with which the building may be completed, cost savings, and environmental sustainability.
In addition, the capacity of mass timber to store carbon constitutes one of the most remarkable advantages of this material product. During their growth, trees take in carbon dioxide from the surrounding air. When these trees are harvested and made into mass lumber, the carbon they contain is retained in the structure for the duration of its existence.
Because of this, mass timber structures can function as carbon sinks, giving them distinct advantages compared to traditional construction materials. One more benefit of mass wood is that it can be built rapidly. Because the components are prefabricated, the time spent on-site during building significantly decreases.
On the other hand, the constant expansion of light-frame wooden buildings in non-residential and multi-family sectors has a chance to increase the demand for lumber by more than four billion board feet, resulting in the consumption of almost sixteen million tons of logs yearly and the maintenance of several million acres of working forest.
Accordingly, the multi-billion dollar industry of illegal and unsustainable logging in forests all over the world is currently being supported by the growing demand for low-cost timber products on a global scale. It is estimated that between 8 and 10 percent of the worldwide production and trading of forest products is caused by illegal logging that violates national regulations.
At the same time, it accounts for 40 to 50% of all logging in some of the planet's most valuable and endangered forests. As mentioned, the United States and other industrialized nations' consumption of tropical timber significantly contributes to tropical deforestation.
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