Numerical Analysis of Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT) Wall Panels Under Fire

Cross-laminated timber (CLT) has gained popularity worldwide as a sustainable building product, attracting the attention of designers, engineers, and builders in recent years. However, the behaviour of timber under fire is a significant concern because of its combustible nature. Only limited research has been conducted on the fire behaviour of CLT using finite element (FE) analysis. The main aim of this study is to develop an FE model to investigate the behaviour of CLT wall panels under exposure to standard fire conditions. The accuracy of the FE model was validated by comparing the experimental results of the temperature distribution at different thickness depths of the CLT panels obtained from the literature, with the predicted results from the numerical analysis. Furthermore, a comparative analysis was performed to establish the fire resistance, charring rate, and charred depth of different CLT panels, and the outcome was compared with the experimental results. The predicted temperatures within the CLT panels from the FE model were observed to be in good agreement with the experimental results under fire exposure, which may reduce the number of necessary lab experiments in the future.