Fire Behavior of Masonry Walls

A coupled hydro-thermal model is developed to study the phase-change process within partially saturated porous media. During the heating process (up to 1100°C), the increase of temperature in the medium is characterized by a plateau at a boiling point (around 100°C) revealing the energy absorption due to phase-change (liquid-vapor). In order to analyze this phenomenon, a modeling was performed on relatively lightweight materials as thin mortar walls. This model can also take into account the effect of pore pressure on the position of plateau. The paper ends with recent patents and future developments.