Karlis Livkiss

• Lund University

This study presents the results of large-scale fire tests conducted on a ventilated wooden façade system, based on the draft European testing method to assess the fire performance of the façade systems in cases with and without combustible material on the side wing. Spruce has been used as cladding material. Two distinct tests were conducted to eva...

This paper describes the Guldborgsund arson house fire experiment performed in Denmark and the subsequent numerical investigation. Gas temperatures were measured with four thermocouple trees, and smoke detector activation times were recorded in all rooms. A two-step approach was used to perform the numerical modelling for reproduction of the fire s...

Gypsum plasterboard walls are commonly used in constructions and they provide the passive fire protection as separating elements. The fire resistance of the wall is largely dependent on the thermo-mechanical properties of the gypsum plasterboard. Numerical modelling of the fire behaviour of gypsum plasterboard cracking, fall-off and gypsum induced...

Modelling capabilities have drastically improved in the last decade. However, in most of the cases the fire response of building elements is predicted by fitting input material properties to the models in order to match test data. This paper presents models developed to predict the unexposed side temperature of stone wool layered composites with st...

Air cavities and gaps between material layers are common in construction systems, e.g. ventilated façades. Air cavity may provide a pathway for smoke and flame spread in case of fire. Performing physical testing to investigate different systems and fire scenarios is resource demanding. Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS version 6.7.0) was used to simulat...

This article presents the experimental results of stone wool–layered sandwich constructions, with either steel or gypsum claddings, tested under four different heating exposures: 7 kW/m² incident radiant heat flux exposure, 60 kW/m² incident radiant heat flux exposure, parametric time–temperature curve exposure and ISO 834 standard time–temperature...

Prediction of the insulating capability of building products in fire conditions would support the product development process. Stone wool insulation is a widely used material in fire barrier constructions. Due to the combustion of its organic content, the temperature inside stone wool can rise above the temperature of the exposed boundary. This tem...

The design of buildings using multilayer constructions poses a challenge for fire safety and needs to be understood. Narrow air gaps and cavities are common in many constructions, e.g. ventilated façade systems. In these construction systems flames can enter the cavities and fire can spread on the interior surfaces of the cavities. An experimental...

Upholstered furniture is a major contributor to the fuel load in a fire compartment. Modelling the fire behaviour of upholstered furniture would support performance based fire safety engineering, by allowing the specification of realistic fire scenarios. Modelling upholstered furniture composites in cone calorimeter test conditions is undertaken to...

Modelling fire performance of building fire barriers would allow optimising the design solutions before performing costly fire resistance tests and promote performance-based fire safety engineering. Numerical heat conduction analysis is widely used for predicting the insulation capability of fire barriers. Heat conduction analysis uses material pro...

Certain cellular polymer foams undergo significant volumetric changes during thermal decomposition and degradation when exposed to heat. One of the consequences of this behaviour is that the materials’ exposed surface retreats away from the heat source. This creates challenges in material testing for classification purposes and material modelling....