Effects of insulation materials and their location on the fire resistance of LSF walls

Lightweight walls incorporate insulation materials to compensate for their low thermal mass and to improve thermal performance. This helps in increasing the energy performance of the buildings. Since insulation materials are sensible heat storage materials, there is an increment in the room temperature. Phase Change Materials (PCMs) are used in lightweight walls due to their high thermal storage capacity and the resulting enhanced thermal comfort levels. However, the performance of the PCM incorporated building products/insulations in fire has not been investigated yet. This research has investigated the fire resistance of Light gauge steel framed (LSF) walls with PCM incorporated cellulose insulation through small-scale fire tests. It has also investigated the effects of using different insulation materials and their location on the fire resistance of LSF walls. Important results of this research are presented in this paper in the form of time-temperature profiles for cavity and externally insulated LSF wall configurations with and without PCM incorporated cellulose insulation. Findings reveal that externally insulated LSF walls have higher fire resistance levels than cavity insulated LSF walls based on insulation failure criterion. Importantly, adding PCM to cellulose insulation improves the fire resistance of both cavity and externally insulated LSF walls. PCM incorporated cellulose insulation can be used externally in LSF walls to enhance their fire and energy performance. However, the fire behaviour of Vacuum Insulation Panel (VIP) incorporated LSF wall is completely different to other wall systems.