Mass Timber Char Rate & Fire Resistance

Cross-laminated timber (CLT) is one of the lowest-embodied-carbon structural materials available at scale — a cubic metre stores roughly a tonne of CO₂ that a steel or concrete equivalent would instead emit — but its fire behaviour works completely differently from either. This simulator renders a real timber beam cross-section in 3D and chars it at an adjustable, physically grounded rate, tracking the residual (uncharred) cross-section and its bending capacity minute by minute exactly as Eurocode 5's reduced cross-section method does, so you can see directly why exposed mass timber can meet the same fire-resistance ratings as protected steel: the char layer is self-insulating, and the wood underneath keeps most of its strength until the very end.