How can I determine the fire endurance of an exposed wood member?

Chapter 16 of the National Design Specification (NDS) for Wood Construction provides a code-recognized approach for determining the fire resistance of solid sawn, glulam, and select structural composite lumber (SCL) materials, including laminated veneer lumber (LVL), parallel strand lumber (PSL), laminated strand lumber (LSL), and cross-laminated timber (CLT). Design for Code Acceptance Document 2, titled “Design of Fire-Resistive Exposed Wood Members” (DCA 2) provides resources for users to calculate fire resistance for exposed wood members, in compliance with Chapter 16 of the NDS including flexural members (beams), compression members (columns), and solid lumber including decking and other structural members. Additional information including background, examples, and tables providing allowable load ratios for different member types and sizes can be found in Technical Report 10 (TR10).

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