The performance of timber-framed load-bearing gypsum plasterboard walls subjected to two-sided fire exposure.

Gypsum plasterboard lined timber-framed walls are commonly used in construction and provide excellent fire resistance. When these walls are required to perform a load-bearing function, fire resistance is generally assessed by standard fire-resistance testing, exposing a specimen to fire from one side only. When load-bearing walls are themselves not fire separations, they can potentially be exposed to fire from both sides simultaneously. No current tests exist to reliably measure the performance of such gypsum plasterboard lined walls and there is very limited information for a recognised fire engineering design method. In this research, Abaqus/CAE finite element software is used to develop thermal and structural models for the load-bearing timber-framed gypsum plasterboard lined walls subjected to one and two-sided fire exposures and three full-scale fire-resistance tests, designed to expose the load-bearing wall specimen on both sides simultaneously, are conducted. The experimental and modelling results are then analysed to formulate design methodologies which predict the structural adequacy of the load-bearing timber-framed gypsum plasterboard lined walls exposed to fire from both sides