Fire Safety Science Digital Archive

A simple calculation method was developed to estimate the fire resistance of timber decks. The method consists of equations to determine the time to thermal penetration and the time to structural failure. The former is based on a recommendation in Eurocode 5, Part 1.2. The latter resulted from a transformed section analysis for a range of load ratios and plank thicknesses; assuming a constant charring rate, experimentally validated temperature profiles, safety factors commonly used in the US, and temperature effects on stiffness reported in the literature. The calculation method is in reasonable agreement with experimental data obtained in the 1960's.