Design principles for fire safe detailing in Timber Structures

The fire safety requirements defined by building legislation must be fulfilled for the entire building and not only by single components or elements. Within this aspect, the design of joints and intersections of elements and other building components becomes relevant too. Several international studies conducted in the last years provide individual recommendations about the fire safe detailing concerning the assessed setups. This article provides an overview of available international fire tests, summarises the results of newly conducted tests and identifies the general design principles derived from the test results. Besides measures to prevent the spread of fire the focus is also on measures to prevent the spread of smoke within the legislative requirement of compartmentation.