Experimental determination of the charring rate of cross-laminated timber panels

Recent design guides include charring models for cross-laminated plane timber (CLT) members. When the bond line integrity is not maintained, charring is illustrated as a combination of sequenced phases. Significant research has been conducted on the charring behaviour of CLT panels, and the criterion of 300 °C has been an accepted definition for the char front line. The charring rate of a solid wood-based panel is determined by the char depth divided by the time to reach the char depth. In the CLT structure, this method can be applied to the first lamella layer. However, due to the char fall-off, it cannot be directly applied to the lamella layers behind the first layer. In this research, eight fire tests were conducted to investigate how charring rates of different lamella layers can be determined from measured temperatures. An assessment method based on the mean char depth development determined from experimental temperature distributions of CLT panels is introduced. Also, the effects of thermocouple positioning and specimen orientation on the assessment results were analysed. The charring rates determined for both horizontal and vertical specimens align well with the results calculated using the European Charring Model and a post-protection factor k₃ of 2.