Fire Resilience of Hybrid Tall Timber Structures

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There is a renaissance in construction that uses engineered timber for tall buildings which extends from its aesthetics and sustainability characteristics. There are also clear advantages of combining engineered timber with traditional construction materials such as steel and concrete. This has resulted in structures that are hybrid in a composite union of materials that benefit each other's specific properties. Studies have shown complex interactions between materials in hybrid construction in fire. The long-term objective of this research is to develop defensible performance-based design procedures for tall hybrid timber structures, allowing for the building as a whole and its components to be understood.  Short term objectives are to: (1) evaluate underlying mechanisms that govern engineered timber degradation in fire with and after controlled heat exposure at a material scale; (2) quantify then model the degradation of composite action in hybrid assemblies at element and full scales for a range of material bonds and composite connectors; (3) develop post-fire repair technologies for recovery of tall hybrid structures after fire; and (4) produce rational design technologies and methodologies for tall hybrid timber buildings. The unique fire resiliency lab at York University will be used. Structural assemblies will be restrained realistically using a strong floor system built at several scales. Various loading configurations will be assessed under fire and results used to calibrate modelling tools. The testing methodologies will break away from traditional fire resistance paradigms. This approach will enable and discover a true understanding and prediction of the structural fire behaviour of hybrid timber structures with a resilience-based design approach. Technological impacts will include: optimal fire safe hybrid flooring assemblies; instrumentation development with advanced Narrow Spectrum Illumination (see-through-fire technology); simplified hand-based design calculation techniques which interact with building information modelling systems; and exploration of new materials and repair techniques to restore strength and durability. Scientific impacts will include regular updates to the National Building Code of Canada Fire Protection committee for proposed code development and expansion of the Canadian Standards Association Group standards to provide guidance for hybrid construction. Economic and environmental impacts will include the optimization of passive protection measures on structures. A range of users of the research will benefit (ex. practitioners, producers, insurers, fire services), leading to a high social impact of the research directly addressing global UN sustainability goals for the Canadian construction industry. This research program will train six (3 MASc and 3 PhD) highly qualified personnel (HQP) from diverse backgrounds. These HQP will apply their research findings to meet society's fire protection requirements.