Fire protection concepts for Timber-Glass Composite facades

The issues of this article are subject of the research project "Timber-Glass Composite Facades | Behavior in Case of Fire | Fire Protection Concepts" which is performed by Brandrat ZT GmbH in cooperation with the Department of Architectural Sciences and Timber Engineering, Vienna University of Technology. It is part of the research program "Urban Solutions 2014" and is funded by the Vienna Business Agency. Start of the project took place in October 2014 and it should be completed in March 2017. The project management is carried out by the author of this paper. The main objectives can be summarized as follows: Growth and densification in urban areas require the development of intelligent and resource-efficient building systems for "Smart Cities" of the future. By using timber-glass composites (TGC) the primary energy demand of buildings can be reduced substantially. This research project examines the feasibility of applications of this new technology in multi-story and high-rise buildings. Critical aspects concerning fire protection such as flammability of timber elements, fire spread and failure of facade elements with bracing capacity will be analyzed. Different strategies will be developed in case studies and validated by structural analysis. Large scale mock ups of TGC facade elements will be checked on their suitability in fire tests. The findings of this research will lead to innovative fire safety concepts for building systems with TGC facades. Compliance with the high safety standards for multi-story buildings in urban areas like Vienna is one of the main objectives of this work. The adaptation of these fire safety concepts to the national standards of the neighboring countries will be continued subsequently. The gained knowledge should lead to further cooperation with companies for serial productions with TGC technology.