Flame heights and charring in a particleboard cavity under varying cavity widths and sample heights
Karyaparambil, Dheeraj Dilip ; Nordvik, Trond ; Erland, Sveinung ; van Hees, Patrick LU
; Fernandez-Anez, Nieves
; Frette, Vidar
and Hagen, Bjarne Christian
(2025)
In Fire Safety Journal
156.
- Abstract
Flame spread through ventilation cavities in timber facades is a serious fire safety concern in tall buildings. In this study, flame behaviour inside a particleboard cavity, resembling the ventilation cavity in a façade system, was investigated. Experiments were conducted with particleboard on one side and an inert panel on the other, across six cavity widths ranging from 10 cm to 25 cm. Variations in flame height, mass loss, temperature along the cavity height and gas velocity above the cavity were quantified. These quantities were found to increase as cavity width decreased. 3D scans of the sample surface were conducted after the experiment to quantify the charred volume. Deeper charring was observed with narrower cavities. Most of... (More)
Flame spread through ventilation cavities in timber facades is a serious fire safety concern in tall buildings. In this study, flame behaviour inside a particleboard cavity, resembling the ventilation cavity in a façade system, was investigated. Experiments were conducted with particleboard on one side and an inert panel on the other, across six cavity widths ranging from 10 cm to 25 cm. Variations in flame height, mass loss, temperature along the cavity height and gas velocity above the cavity were quantified. These quantities were found to increase as cavity width decreased. 3D scans of the sample surface were conducted after the experiment to quantify the charred volume. Deeper charring was observed with narrower cavities. Most of the charring was found to occur from ∼15 cm to ∼60 cm above the base of the sample. Flame heights for particleboard samples showed a significant variation during each experimental run, while those for inert samples remained more stable. A significant change in flame and char behaviour was observed when the cavity width was reduced from 15 cm to 10 cm. Additionally, flame heights, gas velocity, maximum char depth and char volume increased when the particleboard sample height was increased.
(Less)
- author
- Karyaparambil, Dheeraj Dilip
; Nordvik, Trond
; Erland, Sveinung
; van Hees, Patrick
LU
; Fernandez-Anez, Nieves
; Frette, Vidar
and Hagen, Bjarne Christian
- organization
- publishing date
- 2025-10
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- 3D scan, Cavity fire, Façade fire, Fire spread, Particleboard, Timber façade, Ventilation cavity
- in
- Fire Safety Journal
- volume
- 156
- article number
- 104440
- publisher
- Elsevier
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:105007447144
- ISSN
- 0379-7112
- DOI
- 10.1016/j.firesaf.2025.104440
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 94b251f1-00cc-403e-bad1-c41d6ee24b94
- date added to LUP
- 2025-11-04 11:11:44
- date last changed
- 2025-11-04 11:12:42
@article{94b251f1-00cc-403e-bad1-c41d6ee24b94,
abstract = {{<p>Flame spread through ventilation cavities in timber facades is a serious fire safety concern in tall buildings. In this study, flame behaviour inside a particleboard cavity, resembling the ventilation cavity in a façade system, was investigated. Experiments were conducted with particleboard on one side and an inert panel on the other, across six cavity widths ranging from 10 cm to 25 cm. Variations in flame height, mass loss, temperature along the cavity height and gas velocity above the cavity were quantified. These quantities were found to increase as cavity width decreased. 3D scans of the sample surface were conducted after the experiment to quantify the charred volume. Deeper charring was observed with narrower cavities. Most of the charring was found to occur from ∼15 cm to ∼60 cm above the base of the sample. Flame heights for particleboard samples showed a significant variation during each experimental run, while those for inert samples remained more stable. A significant change in flame and char behaviour was observed when the cavity width was reduced from 15 cm to 10 cm. Additionally, flame heights, gas velocity, maximum char depth and char volume increased when the particleboard sample height was increased.</p>}},
author = {{Karyaparambil, Dheeraj Dilip and Nordvik, Trond and Erland, Sveinung and van Hees, Patrick and Fernandez-Anez, Nieves and Frette, Vidar and Hagen, Bjarne Christian}},
issn = {{0379-7112}},
keywords = {{3D scan; Cavity fire; Façade fire; Fire spread; Particleboard; Timber façade; Ventilation cavity}},
language = {{eng}},
publisher = {{Elsevier}},
series = {{Fire Safety Journal}},
title = {{Flame heights and charring in a particleboard cavity under varying cavity widths and sample heights}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.firesaf.2025.104440}},
doi = {{10.1016/j.firesaf.2025.104440}},
volume = {{156}},
year = {{2025}},
}