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A New Intermediate-scale Fire Test for Evaluating Building Material Flammability

FM Global 1151 Boston-Providence Turnpike Norwood, Massachusetts 02062, USA, soonil.nam{at}fmglobal.com

Robert G. Bill, JR

FM Global 1151 Boston-Providence Turnpike Norwood, Massachusetts 02062, USA

A new intermediate-scale fire test has been developed as a screening tool to evaluate wall and ceiling assemblies for material flammability. The scale of the test is large enough for the tested materials to reveal their behavior in a full-scale fire, but still small enough to provide substantial cost savings compared to 25-ft and 50-ft corner tests used for decades to evaluate wall/ceiling panels and other building materials. The test consists of parallel panels of the material assemblies being evaluated, which are each 1.07 m wide and 4.9 m high and separated by 0.53 m. A 360 kW propane sand burner is used as the ignition source. The parallel panel test is conducted under a 5-MW fire products collector to measure fire heat release rate (HRR). Materials used during development of the new test include various thicknesses of: polyvinylchloride, fire retardant plywood, fiberglass-reinforced melamine and panels with metal facings over foamed polyurethane, polystyrene, and polyisocyanurate. Comparisons with the 25-ft and 50-ft corner tests indicate that fire propagation behavior in the corner tests correlates well with the maximum HRR in the parallel panel test as follows: fire will not propagate to the end of the test array in the 25-ft corner test with combustible wall panels and a noncombustible ceiling if the HRR in the parallel panel test is <1100 kW; fire will not reach the top of the test array in the 50-ft corner test if the HRR in the parallel panel test is less than 830 kW; fire propagation will not reach the ends of the horizontal ceiling in the 25-ft corner test with both combustible wall and ceiling panels if the HRR in the parallel panel test is <830 kW.

Key Words: intermediate-scale fire test • 25-ft and 50-ft corner test • flammability • building construction materials.

This version was published on August 1, 2009

Journal of Fire Protection Engineering, Vol. 19, No. 3, 157-176 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/1042391508101994


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