Fire-resistance of Cross-Laminated Timber

 

Canadian researchers recently put Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT), a somewhat new building product, to the test to determine fire-resistance properties. Their findings were:

The tests demonstrated that CLT assemblies can achieve significant fire resistance that is close to three hours in some cases with even unprotected CLT under full loading conditions. The failure modes were a mix of integrity and structural failures.

The (abbreviated) table below shows some of the results:

# of Plies	Thickness (mm)	Gypsum Board Protection	Fire Resistance (min)
3	114	2 x 12.7 mm	106
5	175	Unprotected	113
5	105	Unprotected	57
3	114	2 x 12.7 mm	77
5	175	Unprotected	96
3	105	1 x 15.9 mm	86
5	175	1 x 15.9 mm	124
7	245	Unprotected	178

Links:

• Source: http://www.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/ci-ic/article/v17n4-4
• Papers on general topic:
  • FIRE-EXPOSED CROSS-LAMINATED TIMBER – MODELLING AND TESTS
  • Experimental analysis of cross-laminated timber panels in fire