Simulation of the thermal fire resistance of building materials using the finite element package LIBRA

Application of the microcomputer based finite element analysis program ‘LIBRA’ to predict the thermal fire resistance of building materials is demonstrated in this paper. The thermal behaviours of three samples of aluminium, fired clay brick and cement mortar with one side exposed to afire were predicted. An electric furnace which can induce the transient variation of air temperature following the British Standard Standard fire curve was built. Experimental measurements on the transient temperature distribution in those three samples were performed to verify the predicted results and good agreement was found for the aluminium.