Design and Development of Composite Plywood that Integrates Fire Resistance,Water Resistance and Wear Resistance

In order to improve the fire resistance,water resistance and wear resistance of ordinary plywood products in the wood processing industry,three composite structures of plywood products S1,S2 and S3 were designed in this paper,and a reasonable production process was proposed.Through the physical and mechanical properties and fire resistance testing and technical and economic analysis,the applicability of composite plywood was evaluated.The results of the study showed that the physical mechanics of the three kinds of composite structure plywood met the standard requirements,and their fire resistance was far better than that of ordinary plywood.Among them,the S1 structural board had the best overall physical and mechanical properties.The S3 structural board showed the best fire resistance,which was about 1.9 times more than that of ordinary plywood,and the added cost was the lowest.The thin cork board added to the S2 structural board had poor fire performance since the air in the cork board cavities had a certain combustion-supporting effect,which inhibited the fire resistance of high-pressure laminate(HPL)layer.Moreover,the additional cost of the S2 board was the highest,and its comprehensive performance was the worst.The S3 structural plywood product composed of HPL fireproof board with a thickness of about 1 mm in the surface layer and ordinary plywood with a thickness of about 12 mm in the core layer was the most cost-effective product,which could meet the needs of various fields such as construction,home furnishing,decoration and transportation.

Investigation on the Fire Resistance of Cellular Steel Beam with Sinusoidal Openings

This paper investigated the fire resistance of CSBs with various parameters under high temperature rise due to fire using finite element software ABAQUS. The mechanical parameters of CSBs are analyzed, including load-bearing capacity and the temperature distribution during the heating process. Through structural analysis simulation of the entire heating process, the structural response of the CSBs is divided into five stages: elastic stage, elastic-plastic stage, self-balancing stage, catenary stage and ultimate destruction stage. The results indicate that the opening diameter-to-height ratio, opening spacing-to-height ratio and load ratio significantly affect the structural responses of CSBs in fire, followed by opening shape as secondary effects. In all the numerical analyzes, CSBs are analyzed with a uniformly distributed load and having simply supported boundary conditions.

Density Dependence of Tunnel Fire Resistance for Aerogel-Cement Mortar Coatings

Five kinds of mortars with density grades of 500, 600, 700, 800, and 900 kg/m3 were prepared. Their thermal conductivity and compressive strength were measured, and the morphological changes before and after simulated tunnel fire were observed. To investigate the fire resistance, the interfacial temperature of a 30 mm thick aerogel-cement mortar and self-compacting concrete (SCC) in a simulated tunnel fire with the maximum temperature of 1100 ℃ for 2.5 h was tested and recorded. The results showed that as the density decreased, both compressive strength and thermal conductivity of the aerogel-cement mortar exhibited an exponential decrease. The effective fire resistance time of the mortar with 500, 600, 700, 800, and 900 kg/m^3 for protecting SCC from tunnel fire were 97 min, 114 min, 144 min, > 150 min, 136 min, respectively. 700 - 800 kg/m3 was the optimum density for engineering application of tunnel concrete fireproof coating.

Research on the Fire Resistance of BMI/DDM Resin Toughened by CTBN

Many factors that affect the flame resistance of the modified BMIsystem were studied, including the effect of different content ofP_4, C_24H_29Cl_21/ZnO_3B_2o_3·5H_2O and C_24H_29Cl_21/MoO_3 onOxygen Index of the modified Bismaleimide resin. The thermalstability and mechanical properties of the cured BMI resin were alsomeasured. It showed that this new kind of modified bismaleimide resinhad nice fire resistance, excellent thermal stability and mechanicalproperties.

Fire resistance performance of glulam beam

A glulam beam with the size of 4700 mm×300 mm×480 mm(L×W×H) was tested in the furnace to investigate the fire resistance performance of glulam beam according to the temperature curve of ISO834. Three surfaces, the bottom and the two flanks, of the glulam beam were exposed to fire in the test. Simply supported bearings were used to support the beam on which the load of 0.76 kN/m was uniformly set. The experimental results show that: 1) Sectional dimension of glulam beam was greatly diminished due to the serious decomposition and carbonization of the timber. 2) The largest vertical deformation is relatively small and it has not exceeded 3.95 mm until the end of experiment. The maximum temperature on the top surface of the glulam beam attains 180 ℃ at 3437 s, which indicates that the beam have failed according to the European standard of fire resistance tests. 3) The right end of the beam with 16 connecting holes(the connecting holes were used for the connection between bolt and column) and the slit in the beam both burnt intensely and carbonized seriously because the fire could reach the holes and slit of beam facilitating the burning.

Preparation and Characterization of Sandwich Structured Materials with Interesting Insulation and Fire Resistance

A cellular material in the form of 3-layered sandwich structure material was prepared via sole use of mechanical stirring without any use of a foaming agent,while Tween-80 was employed as a foam stabilizer via a developed in-situ mold casting.The resulting structure displayed a good appearance with no visual defects.The 3-layered composition of the sandwish structure,“nonporous resin layer-porous foam layer-nonporous resin layer”,was examined in terms of the microstructure,density&density distribution,pulverization ratio,mechanical strength,insulation and flame retardant performance.It was indicated from the results that the bonding between the resin layer and foam layer was tight,while the tensile rupture always occurred in the porous layer.Also,the density of the sandwich structure material was symmetrical with“saddle”distribution,and a uniform density for any given layer.The increase in the density at the interface layer provided a good interpretation for the tensile rupture never occurred at the interface.The brittleness resistance of the developed material was significantly improved,and the pulverization ratio was sharply decreased from 9.93%to 0.31%.The material acquired a thermal conductivity and limiting oxygen index(LOI)of 0.0241 W/m⋅K and 29.92%,respectively,indicating potential use of such materials broadly in fields of insulation and flame retardancy.

Rational concrete cover of prestressed concrete beams and slabs for fire resistance

As the influence of the ratio of the characteristic value of structural resistance to that of frequent combination effect, K, on the thickness of concrete cover of prestressed concrete （PC） beams and slabs for fire resistance is not considered sufficiently in design criteria for concrete structures in China and other countries at present, numerical analyses were carried out by ANSYS software on unbonded prestressed concrete （UPC） oneway simply-supported and continuous slabs and beams, and bonded PC simply-supported and continuous beams subjected to fire in 186 cases. In the analysis, K, section dimensions and the thickness of concrete cover are regarded as independent variables and some calculation parameters determined by trial and error based on test resuits. Calculation formula for fire endurance of UPC simply-supported and continuous slabs was proposed, and the recommended thicknesses of cover of PC beams and slabs was presented in consideration of the influence of K and section dimensions as well as fire endurance requirements. Comparison analysis of relevant design criterions in China and other countries was performed to verify the rationale of the proposed values.

Fire resistance evaluation through synthetic fire tests and generative adversarial networks

This paper introduces a machine learning approach to address the challenge of limited data resulting from costly and time-consuming fire experiments by enlarging small fire test data sets and predicting the fire resistance of reinforced concrete columns.Our approach begins by creating deep learning models,namely generative adversarial networks and variational autoencoders,to learn the spatial distribution of real fire tests.We then use these models to generate synthetic tabular samples that closely resemble realistic fire resistance values for reinforced concrete columns.The generated data are employed to train state-of-the-art machine learning techniques,including Extreme Gradient Boost,Light Gradient Boosting Machine,Categorical Boosting Algorithm,Support Vector Regression,Random Forest,Decision Tree,Multiple Linear Regression,Polynomial Regression,Support Vector Machine,Kernel Support Vector Machine,Naive Bayes,and K-Nearest Neighbors,which can predict the fire resistance of the columns through regression and classification.Machine learning analyses achieved highly accurate predictions of fire resistance values,outperforming traditional models that relied solely on limited experimental data.Our study highlights the potential for using machine learning and deep learning analyses to revolutionize the field of structural engineering by improving the accuracy and efficiency of fire resistance evaluations while reducing the reliance on costly and time-consuming experiments.

On the Danger of Threats Underestimating and the Resulting Unreliable Assessment of Building Fire Safety

The paper gives an example showing that the utilization of prescriptive rules in some situations can lead to strong underestimation of the real risks and inadequate fire safety assessment of buildings.The issue seems to be very important as the prescriptive rules in many European countries are the only allowed and acceptable by the authority’s method of building fire safety assessment.The building presented in this paper is an exemplary bakery plant consisting of several premises of a different purpose and method of use,e.g.:technical facilities,production depot,distribution and storage spaces,long-term storage cool rooms,etc.The whole building that consists of single-story technological(production and storage)part and(located on two stories)office parts was approved as a singular fire zone with a total usable area of 6280 m2.The technological area includes production facilities,storage depots of raw materials,packages and finished products,as well as cold stores and a number of auxiliary function rooms.In the second(having two stories)part of the building some social rooms,administrative areas and offices are localized.The total height of the building(at the highest point)does not exceed 10.5 m.Due to the Polish regulations the parameters determining the fire-related requirements of individual structural elements of the building(especially in terms of their fire resistance)are the surface area,the average value of the fire-load density and the presence of the risk of possible explosion.The building was designed based on the assumption that the average fire-load density does not exceed the level of 1000 MJ/m2.The analysis and calculations carried out during the exploitation phase of the building confirmed the compatibility with the assumptions adopted,but the actual volume,estimated at the level of 974 MJ/m2 proved to be very close to the limit value.Exceeding of the limit value of 1000 MJ/m2-due to provisions given in a state regulations-would automatically double the formal requirements for the resistance of the structural elements from R30 to R60.When assessing the real risk,especially in case of the large-surface-area buildings with varying ways of use of the premises,the average values of fire-load density may not properly reflect the real threat of fire.This is confirmed in the present facility,where in approximately 47%of the total area of the building the fire-load density doesn’t exceed 100 MJ/m2.Surfaces for which the fire load density exceeds 4000 MJ/m2(in extreme cases,it’s 5644 MJ/m2)represent only about 11%of the total area.It is worth mentioning that the fire-load density exceeding 4000 MJ/m2 due to the national regulations and codes of design would increase the criterion of structural resistance to R240.A completely separate issue is the fact that the oldest part of the building was completed in violation of some basic technical and construction requirements,so that the structure of this part of the building currently does not meet any criteria for fire resistance.This prompted the owner to implement some solutions that will not only lead the property to become fully consistent with the state regulations but also raise the level of security over the required standards,especially in the areas particularly vulnerable to fire.Presented case study shows that the adopted method of determining the requirements for fire resistance,especially based on the average value of fire-load density,in selected cases can lead to significant underestimations and result in incorrect assessment of a building fire safety.

Heat transfer enhanced inorganic phase change material compositing carbon nanotubes for battery thermal management and thermal runaway propagation mitigation

Developing technologies that can be applied simultaneously in battery thermal management(BTM)and thermal runaway(TR)mitigation is significant to improving the safety of lithium-ion battery systems.Inorganic phase change material(PCM)with nonflammability has the potential to achieve this dual function.This study proposed an encapsulated inorganic phase change material(EPCM)with a heat transfer enhancement for battery systems,where Na_(2)HPO_(4)·12H_(2)O was used as the core PCM encapsulated by silica and the additive of carbon nanotube(CNT)was applied to enhance the thermal conductivity.The microstructure and thermal properties of the EPCM/CNT were analyzed by a series of characterization tests.Two different incorporating methods of CNT were compared and the proper CNT adding amount was also studied.After preparation,the battery thermal management performance and TR propagation mitigation effects of EPCM/CNT were further investigated on the battery modules.The experimental results of thermal management tests showed that EPCM/CNT not only slowed down the temperature rising of the module but also improved the temperature uniformity during normal operation.The peak battery temperature decreased from 76℃to 61.2℃at 2 C discharge rate and the temperature difference was controlled below 3℃.Moreover,the results of TR propagation tests demonstrated that nonflammable EPCM/CNT with good heat absorption could work as a TR barrier,which exhibited effective mitigation on TR and TR propagation.The trigger time of three cells was successfully delayed by 129,474 and 551 s,respectively and the propagation intervals were greatly extended as well.

Selection of Fire-resistant Tree Species for Southwestern China

Selection of fire resistant tree species for the southwestern China and the planting of those species can effectively prevent large area's fire damage. In this paper the components and flammability of leaves, twigs and barks of 12 tree species in the mountain area of southwestern China have been tested and analyzed in the laboratory. The test and analysis indicate the results as follows:(1) for all the tree species, the fire resistance of leaves is much weaker than that of twigs and barks, and the broad leaves are stronger than those of conifers in fire resistance. (2) Heat value, moisture, ignition point and ash content are main indexes to affect fire resistance. Heat value relates to lignose content and benzene ethanol extractive content linearly.(3) Of all the 12 tree species, Schima superba,Castanopsis hystrix, Myrica rubra have the strongest resistance to fire; Machilus pauhoi, Michelia macclurei, Mytilaria laosensis, Camellia olifera and Manglietia tenuipes are relatively strong in fire resistance, and Lithocapus thalassica, Tsoongiodendron odorum, Cunninghamia lanceolata and Pinus massoniana are weak in fire resistance.

Influence of key factors on deflection of bonded prestressed concrete simply supported slabs subjected to fire

In order to validate the accuracy of nonlinear fire simulation programs,comparison analysis is carried out between simulation and experiment induced from small-scale specimens,and then fire resistance of large-scale prestressed concrete slabs is further investigated through parameter expansion.The influences on fire resistance ratings controlled by deflection are explored and discussed,including effective span,concrete cover thickness,load level,prestress degree,effective prestress,composite reinforcement index and other factors.The calculated results indicate that fire resistance ratings of large-scale bonded prestressed concrete simply supported slabs are bigger than those of small-scale ones.Finally,the calculation formulas of fire resistance ratings controlled by deflection are established,which rationally consider the influence of effective span,concrete cover thickness,load level,composite reinforcement index and so on key factors.

Characteristics of Crack Growth in High Performance Concrete Subjected to Fire

An experimental investigation was conducted to identify the characteristics of crack growth in high performance concrete (HPC) subjected to fire, including two parts of work, i.e. crack growth resistance determinations and cracking observations, using concrete of three strength grades 40 MPa, 70 MPa, and 110 MPa. The crack growth resistance curves (R-curves ) of HPC subjected to high temperatures were determined using notched three-point bend beam specimens of 100 mm×100 mm×300mm. The R-curve (crack growth resistance curve) flattening shows that the crack growth resistance has been significantly reduced by elevated temperature. Concrete with a higher strength grade has a steeper R-curve, with a higher fracture toughness but a shorter critical crack growth. The shorter critical crack growth means that concrete of a higher strength grade has a more brittle behavior. The concrete cracking observations reveal that the consequences of rapid heating are quite different from those of slow heating. For slow heating at a rate of 0.5℃/min, HPC suffered no obvious cracking below 600℃ even if it had a high moisture content. Explosive spalling is an extreme case of the internal cracking driven mainly by vapor pressure. All these results confirmed the vapor pressure mechanism for spading behavior which should be more significant for denser concrete. The crack growth ranges obtained from the R-curve determination results are in good agreement with those measured in the concrete cracking observations.

Experimental investigation on performance of intumescent coating for steel plate at elevated temperature

Twenty tests were conducted to investigate the efficiency of the intumescent coating designed to protect steel plate at the elevated temperature, by means of electrical furnace. And the factors of the initial thickness of coating and temperature of electrical furnace were considered. The high temperature response behavior of the intumescent coating was observed. And the expansion form of ultrathin intumescent coating and the temperature of the steel plate(TS) were obtained. Besides, the heat flux from expansion layer to steel plate versus time was analyzed in order to evaluate the heat transfer effect of intumescent coating on steel plate. The experimental results show that the response behaviors of the coating subjected to fire could be divided into four phases: stabilization phase, foaming expansion phase, carbonization-consumption phase and inorganic layer phase. And the net heat flux to the steel plate decreased observably in the foaming expansion phase, while the surplus white inorganic substance, which is the residue of the intumesced char layer in the inorganic layer phase under the condition of the temperature of the electrical furnace(TEF) beyond 700 °C over 1 h, has little effect on fire protection for the steel plate.

Numerical Investigation of Connection Performance of Timber-Concrete Composite Slabs with Inclined Self-Tapping Screws under High Temperature

The timber-concrete composite(TCC)slabs have become a preferred choice of floor systems in modern multi story timber buildings.This TCC slab consisted of timber and a concrete slab which were commonly connected together with inclined self-tapping screws(STSs).To more accurately predict the fire performance of TCC slabs,the mechanical behavior of TCC connections under high temperature was investigated by numerical simulation in this study.The interface slip of TCC connections was simulated by a proposed Finite Element(FE)model at room temperature,and different diameter and penetration length screws were considered.The effectiveness of this FE model was validated by comparing with the existing experimental results.Furthermore,the sequentially coupling thermal stress analyses of this model were conducted,and the relationship between the reduction coefficient of connection performance and the effective penetration length of screws was summarized.This study gave the fit-ting expressions for the reduction coefficient of slip modulus and joint strength.Finally,the numerical investiga-tions of the fire performance of TCC slabs considering the char fall-off of Cross Laminated Timber(CLT)were performed to verify the effectiveness of the proposed reduction law.Comparing the fire-resistance time with experimental results showed deviation of the proposed model was−14.02%.

Progress on Preparation and Characteristics of Ultra-lightweight Foam Concrete

With the increase in global warming,building energy saving becomes a principal policy for most countries.About 70%of the energy consumption loss of buildings is through the external walls of the buildings.Ultra-lightweight foam concretes with dry density of 150-300 kg·m-3 as the thermal insulation materials have been commercially prepared and used in building insulation engineering in China.This paper reports the raw materials and procedures for preparation of ultralightweight foam concretes by chemical foaming(UFC-C)and physical foaming(UFC-P).The characteristics of the air-voids structure,the mechanical properties,the water absorption,the thermal conductivity and the fire resistance of UFC-C and UFC-P were summarized in this paper.Based on existing research progress,the future research works were presented.

Biomimetic,fire-resistant,ultralight and porous carbon fiber sponges enabling safe and efficient remediation of crude oil spills in harsh environments

Advanced absorbents must meet the requirements of superior hydrophobic/oleophilic behavior,favorable adsorption efficiency,and high photothermal and Joule heating performance to handle frequent crude oil spills.However,current carbon-based absorbents suffer from poor fire resistance,thus severely limiting their application in harsh environments.Herein,inspired by a bird’s nest,a polymer“welding”strategy is proposed to design a versatile absorbent in which the polymer serves as a“binder”to interconnect discontinuous fibers together to form a 3D welded structure.The continuous conductive networks endow the absorbent with high photothermal and Joule heating effect,thus achieving all-weather adsorption,and improving the adsorption efficiency of crude oil via the self-heating function.Compared with other absorbents,the absorbent prepared via polymer welding technology exhibited preferable comprehensive performance,such as superhydrophobicity,high fire resistance,and high absorption efficiency.Specially,the noninflammable absorbent can restrain the combustion of crude oil,thereby reducing its combustion in case of fire.The versatile absorbent is expected to provide a promising solution for the safe and effi-cient cleanup of crude oil spills in harsh environments.Overall,the unique polymer welding strategy can be developed into a universal strategy for other material systems to expand their applications.

Numerical analysis of aluminum alloy reticulated shells with gusset joints under fire conditions

In this study,a numerical analysis was conducted on aluminum alloy reticulated shells(AARSs)with gusset joints under fire conditions.First,a thermal-structural coupled analysis model of AARSs considering joint semirigidity was proposed and validated against room-temperature and fire tests.The proposed model can also be adopted to analyze the fire response of other reticulated structures with semi-rigid joints.Second,a parametric analysis was conducted based on the numerical model to explore the buckling behavior of K6 AARS with gusset joints under fire conditions.The results indicated that the span,height-to-span ratio,height of the supporting structure,and fire power influence the reduction factor of the buckling capacity of AARSs under fire conditions.In contrast,the reduction factor is independent of the number of element divisions,number of rings,span-to-thickness ratio,and support condition.Subsequently,practical design formulae for predicting the reduction factor of the buckling capacity of K6 AARSs were derived based on numerical analysis results and machine learning techniques to provide a rapid evaluation method.Finally,further numerical analyses were conducted to propose practical design suggestions,including the conditions of ignoring the ultimate bearing capacity analysis of K6 AARS and ignoring the radiative heat flux.

Review and discussion on fire behavior of bridge girders

This paper presents an overview on fire behavior of bridge girders mainly including prestressed concrete(PC) bridge girders and steel bridge girders. The typical fire accidents occurred on bridges are illustrated and, the seriousness of posing threats to bridge structures resulted from increasing traffic fires, specially intense hydrocarbon fires generated from petrol-chemicals, is highlighted. The current researches, embracing high-temperature properties of constituent materials, prestress state, measurement in fire tests, numerical methods, structural fire resistance, and so forth, taken on coping with problems existing in fire behavior and structural fire behavior in bridge girders are reviewed and discussed. Further, strategies for enhancing fire resistance of bridge girders followed with failure criterion and mode in types of bridge structures are provided. Future research area along with emerging trends in structural fire behavior of bridge girders is also recommended for mitigating fire hazards occurred on bridge girders. Herein, it can be attained a conclusion from review and discussion that prestressed concrete bridge girders with thin webs, specially T-shaped bridge girder, are prone to unstable under fire exposure conditions. High-strength concrete utilized in prestressed concrete bridge girders is vulnerable to spalling at elevated temperature. Steel-truss bridge girder present a more significant fragility to fire exposure compared than other steel bridge girders.

Fire hazard in transportation infrastructure:Review,assessment,and mitigation strategies

This paper reviews the fire problem in critical transportation infrastructures such as bridges and tunnels.The magnitude of the fire problem is illustrated,and the recent increase in fire problems in bridges and tunnels is highlighted.Recent research undertaken to address fire problems in transportation structures is reviewed,as well as critical factors governing the performance of those structures.Furthermore,key strategies recommended for mitigating fire hazards in bridges and tunnels are presented,and their applicability to practical situations is demonstrated through a practical case study.Furthermore,research needs and emerging trends for enhancing the“state-of-the-art”in this area are discussed.