Estudo experimental sobre o comportamento da resistência mecânica de amostras de madeira sob ação de fogo simulando incêndios residenciais

Although the civil construction has substantially improved, timber is still consistently used. However, timber is susceptible to insect attack, it has great variability and, among other disadvantages, it is considered as a combustible material. Due to this inflammability, the period of time required to fight the fire in buildings is reduced. Knowing the behaviour of this material against fire situation allows creating escape routes for building users. This work aims to obtain the loss of compressive and flexural strength of cedarwood specimens subjected to low risk fire situation, in periods of exposure ranging from 2,5 to 10 minutes. The results show that the loss in the compressive strength at 5 and 10 minutes of exposure were 34% and 90%, respectively. The loss in the flexural strength was 51% and 90% for 5 and 10 minutes of exposure, respectively. However, it was observed that the loss in strength depends on the geometrical characteristics of the cross section of the specimen.

Keywords:fire; wood; mechanical behavior.