Improving the Fire-Resistance Rating of Concrete Masonry Walls using Insulations An Experimental and Numerical Study

Abstract

For non-loadbearing applications, the 15 cm blocks are usually used. They are lightweight, easy to install, and are cost effective. The fire resistance rating of the 15 cm block is about 1 h, while that of a 20 cm block is about 2 h. This reduced fire resistance rating is due to smaller cells which leads to more convective and radiative heat transfer inside of the block cells, as well as the reduced face cells that cause the blocks to heat up quicker. With the use of lightweight insulation materials as cell fillers, an improvement in the fire resistance rating was achieved for the 15 cm block. These materials were able to reduce the convective and radiative heat transfer in the cells. For the experimental and numerical analysis carried out, vermiculite, and gypsum were able to improve the fire ratings by at least 1h.iii Acknowledgement My appreciation goes to God, my parent, siblings and friends for their encouragement and support all through my studies I would like to thank my esteemed supervisor Professor Ehab Zalok for his invaluable supervision, support, and tutelage during the course of my master's program. My gratitude extends to the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Carleton University, for the knowledge instilled upon me. Additionally, I would like to express gratitude to Professor Heng Khoo for his guidance with the finite element modelling and analysis software, ABAQUS. My profound gratitude goes to the Canadian Masonry Design Centre (CMDC) and Canadian Concrete Masonry Producers Association (CCMPA) for their financial and in-kind support. I would like to specially extend my gratitude to Dr. Bennett Banting (CMDC) for his personal involvement in various ways during the entire research. Also, grateful to the National Science and Engineering Research of Canada (NSERC) for the funding support, and to Peter McBride and Sean Tracey (Ottawa Fire Services) for their support to the fire laboratory. I would like to thank my research team, past and present -Hamish Pope and Hannah Keelson for their treasured support which was really influential in shaping my research and critiquing my results.