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Adams, F K (2004) The management of risks in international infrastructural projects, Unpublished PhD Thesis, Department of Business Studies, University of Edinburgh.

Ahiaga-Dagbui, D D (2014) Rethinking construction cost overruns: an artificial neural network approach to construction cost estimation, Unpublished PhD Thesis, School of Engineering, University of Edinburgh.

Al-Remal, A M (2013) Risk-based design of structures for fire, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , University of Edinburgh.

Alsedairy, F S (2019) Dynamics of mega infrastructure decision-making in Saudi Arabia, Unpublished PhD Thesis, School of Engineering, University of Edinburgh.

Baker, A J (2019) ‘Suitable and sufficient’? UK regulation of post-construction fire safety, Unpublished PhD Thesis, School of Social & Political Science, University of Edinburgh.

Baker, H (2021) A multimethod approach to learning from text-based construction failure data, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , University of Edinburgh.

Bartlett, A I (2018) Auto-extinction of engineered timber, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , University of Edinburgh.

  • Type: Thesis
  • Keywords: building regulation; cross-laminated timber; fire protection; timber; sustainability
  • ISBN/ISSN:
  • URL: http://hdl.handle.net/1842/31052
  • Abstract:
    Engineered timber products are becoming increasingly popular in the construction industry due to their attractive aesthetic and sustainability credentials. Cross-laminated timber (CLT) is one such engineered timber product, formed of multiple layers of timber planks glued together with adjacent layers perpendicular to each other. Unlike traditional building materials such as steel and concrete, the timber structural elements can ignite and burn when exposed to fire, and thus this risk must be explicitly addressed during design. Current design guidance focusses on the structural response of engineered timber, with the flammability risk typically addressed by encapsulation of any structural timber elements with the intention of preventing their involvement in a fire. Exposed structural timber elements may act as an additional fuel load, and this risk must be adequately quantified to satisfy the intent of the building regulations in that the structure does not continue burning. This can be achieved through timber’s natural capacity to auto-extinguish when the external heat source is removed or sufficiently reduced. To address these issues, a fundamental understanding of auto-extinction and the conditions necessary to achieve it in real fire scenarios is needed. Bench-scale flammability studies were undertaken in the Fire Propagation Apparatus to explore the conditions under which auto-extinction will occur. Critical conditions were determined experimentally as a mass loss rate of 3.48 ± 0.31 g/m2s, or an incident heat flux of ~30 kW/m2. Mass loss rate was identified as the better criterion, as critical heat flux was shown by comparison with literature data to be heavily dependent on apparatus. Subsequently, full-scale compartment fire experiments with exposed timber surfaces were performed to determine if auto-extinction could be achieved in real fire scenarios. It was demonstrated that auto-extinction could be achieved in a compartment fire scenario, but only if significant delamination of the engineered timber product could be prevented. A full-scale compartment fire experiment with an exposed back wall and ceiling achieved auto-extinction after around 21 minutes, at which point no significant delamination of the first lamella had been observed. Experiments with an exposed back and side wall, and experiments with an exposed back wall, side wall, and ceiling underwent sustained burning due to repeated delamination, and an increased quantity of exposed timber respectively. Firepoint theory was used to predict the mass loss rate as a function of external heat flux and heat losses, and was successfully applied to the bench-scale experiments. This approach was then extended to the full-scale compartment fire experiment which achieved auto-extinction. A simplified approach based on experimentally obtained internal temperature fields was able to predict auto-extinction if delamination had not occurred – predicting an extinction time of 20-21 minutes. This demonstrates that the critical mass loss rate of 3.48 ± 0.31 g/m2s determined from bench-scale experiments was valid for application to full-scale compartment fire experiments. This was further explored through a series of reduced-scale compartment fire experiments, demonstrating that auto-extinction can only reliably be achieved if burnout of the compartment fuel load is achieved before significant delamination of the outer lamella takes place. The quantification of the auto-extinction phenomena and their applicability to full-scale compartment fires explored herein thus allows greater understanding of the effects of exposed timber surfaces on compartment fire dynamics.

Campbell, J M (2008) Safety hazard and risk identification and management in infrastructure management, Unpublished PhD Thesis, School of Engineering, University of Edinburgh.

Dunlop, P G (2005) Investigation, modelling and planning of stochastic concrete placing operations, Unpublished PhD Thesis, School of Engineering, University of Edinburgh.

Eid, M E M (2004) Rethinking relationships in the construction industry: integrating sustainable development into project management processes, Unpublished PhD Thesis, Department of Architecture, University of Edinburgh.

French, T R (2012) Evolutionary optimisation of network flow plans for emergency movement in the built environment, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , University of Edinburgh.

Furber, A (2013) The social and cultural context of rural water and sanitation projects: case studies from Ghana, Unpublished PhD Thesis, School of Engineering, University of Edinburgh.

Glendinning, M (1991) 'Give the people homes!': Britain's multi-storey housing drive, Unpublished PhD Thesis, Edinburgh College of Art, University of Edinburgh.

Graham, D (2005) Stochastic modelling and analysis of construction processes, Unpublished PhD Thesis, School of Engineering, University of Edinburgh.

Hashim, R (2018) Green innovation adoption in the construction sector : the role of absorptive capacity and the effect of environmental requirements, Unpublished PhD Thesis, Business School, University of Edinburgh.

Hellowell, M S (2012) Fair return for risk? An examination of structure, competition and profitability in the market for private finance in the National Health Service, Unpublished PhD Thesis, School of Social and Political Science, University of Edinburgh.

Hsiao, C C (2000) Constructing a sustainable impact assessment methodology : an evaluation of Taiwanese EIA of high-rise building, Unpublished PhD Thesis, College of Art, University of Edinburgh.

Jackson, D J (2020) Addressing the challenges of reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the construction industry: a multi-perspective approach, Unpublished PhD Thesis, Business School, University of Edinburgh.

Jiménez-Moreno, P (2020) Mass customisation for zero energy housing: the potential of Japanese manufacturing practices in the context of sustainable housebuilding in the United Kingdom, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , University of Edinburgh.

Kanellopoulos, G (2022) External fire spread from timber lined compartments, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , University of Edinburgh.

Kim, S (1998) Sustainable building practices: minimising the life-cycle environmental impact of high-rise apartments in Korea, Unpublished PhD Thesis, Department of Architecture, University of Edinburgh.

Knebel, V (2006) Preserve and rebuild: the built environment, status transformations and identity construction in eastern Germany after reunification, Unpublished PhD Thesis, Department of Sociology, University of Edinburgh.

Koutsomarkos, V (2023) Developing a fire robustness index for the built environment, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , University of Edinburgh.

Marquardt, G (2017) Economic analysis of contract choice, feelings of entitlement and contract enforcement in relationships governed by incomplete contracts, Unpublished PhD Thesis, School of Economics, University of Edinburgh.

McArthur, J (2023) Enrolment, technical mediation, and the obligatory passage point: a socio-technical examination of the Canada Green Building Council, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , University of Edinburgh.

McMeel, D (2009) The artistry of construction: an investigation into construction as a creative process and the influence of mobile phones within domestic scale construction projects, Unpublished PhD Thesis, Department of Architecture, University of Edinburgh.

Oliver, A K (2020) Perceptions of sustainability and their influence in the design and delivery of Scottish housing, Unpublished PhD Thesis, School of Engineering, University of Edinburgh.

Oswald, D (2016) Investigating unsafe acts on a large multinational construction project, Unpublished PhD Thesis, School of Engineering, University of Edinburgh.

Raman, P G (1977) Information and architectural design: A study of certain theoretical aspects, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , University of Edinburgh.

Rodger, R G (1976) Scottish urban housebuilding, 1870-1914, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , University of Edinburgh.

Ronzani, M (2019) Designing for complexity: Data visualizations in megaproject management, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , University of Edinburgh.

Saoud, E A B (1996) Expert systems for management training in the construction industry, Unpublished PhD Thesis, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Edinburgh.

Sidwell, N C (1957) A critical examination of new constructional techniques and their influence on productivity in the building industry with special reference to housing in south-east Scotland, Unpublished PhD Thesis, School of Engineering, University of Edinburgh.

Smith, S D (1994) Production estimation of earthmoving operations using a discrete-event simulation model, Unpublished PhD Thesis, Civil Engineering, University of Edinburgh.

Yang, S-A (1995) Kics: Representation of regulatory information and the use of case-based reasoning to support the relaxation process, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , University of Edinburgh.