Comportamento ao fogo de painéis multicelulares de GFRP – Ensaios de resistência ao fogo e desenvolvimento de sistemas de proteção

Vasco António Da Silva Rodrigues

Key information

Authors:

Vasco António Da Silva Rodrigues (Vasco António Da Silva Rodrigues)

Supervisors:

António Pedro Carones Duarte (António Pedro Carones Duarte); João Pedro Ramôa Ribeiro Correia (João Pedro Ramôa Ribeiro Correia)

Published in

November 29, 2022

Abstract

Composite materials are beginning to gain more space in the new construction and rehabilitation sectors. However, there is still a need to increase the knowledge on the fire resistance behaviour. In the present dissertation, a study on the behavior of multicellular GFRP panels exposed to a external fire, is presented. The main objective of the dissertation was to evaluate experimentally the thermal and thermomechanical responses of the panels when exposed to elevated temperature, with and without the application of passive protection systems (intumescent paint, calcium silicate boards and vermiculite and perlite mortar). The experimental campaign consisted of two sets of tests: (i) thermal tests, where 4 multicellular GFRP panels were subjected to high temperatures according to the external fire curve; and (ii) thermomechanical tests, where 3 panels, similar to the previous ones were exposed to the same external fire curve and simultaneously to a gravitic (service) load. The results allowed characterizing the fire resistance of the GFRP panel, which collapsed after 41 min, and the effectiveness of passive protection systems. Significant decreases in temperatures, for a given exposure time, were obtained in the panels with protection compared to its unprotected counterpart. None of the panels with passive systems collapsed in the thermomechanical tests, revealing the effectiveness of the protection systems, for at least 150 min.