Study of Fire Resilience Challenges to Promote the Structural Use of Load-Bearing Composite Timber-Glass Walls: Experimental and Numerical Analysis

Abstract

Fire accidents are a critical design condition for load-bearing elements in general. Among others, ordinary glass and composite glass materials are even more susceptible to fire and require the use or definition of specific test protocols, simulation strategies, performance indicators and validation methods. In this paper, the structural performance of a full-scale composite timber-glass composite wall (consisting of a perimetral timber frame and a double thin insulating glass unit (IGU)) under the effects of sustained mechanical loads (25 kN/m, as in a typical two-story building) and fire exposure is investigated based on a standard test furnace. The mechanical concept uses a laminated system that can cover an area of up to 3.2 × 2.7 square meters, with a relatively low thickness (63.52 mm for the double insulating glass unit (IGU), including cavity). A great advantage to evaluate the potential and critical points of the composite timber-glass composite system comes from experimental and finite element (FE) thermomechanical investigations. A pilot test is being conducted on a prototype prefabricated timber-glass module, which is expected to function as an efficient load-bearing system in buildings, withstanding the typical mechanical loads from normal or extreme actions, but also providing adequate resistance to fire accidents. The laboratory investigation was carried out on the basis of conventional recommendations for the experimental assessment of building components in the event of fire, with the main focus on estimating fire resistance. It has been shown that the overall load-bearing capacity and the corresponding fire resistance are mainly determined by the intrinsic properties of the glass components, which may need to be protected or optimized to ensure adequate residual capacity.