Fire test

A fire test is a means of determining whether fire protection products meet minimum performance criteria as set out in a building code or other applicable legislation. Successful tests in laboratories holding national accreditation for testing and certification result in the issuance of a certification listing. The listing is public domain, whereas the test report itself is proprietary information belonging to the test sponsor.

Fire test in Sweden, showing rapid fire spread through burning of cable jackets from one cable tray to another

There are many different types of fire tests apart from those on firestops. Walls and floors themselves can be tested, closures within them, such as windows, fire doors, fire dampers, structural steel, and more. Fire tests are conducted both on active fire protection and on passive fire protection items. Each have different test methods and scales. There are full-scale, small-scale and bench-scale tests. There are tests on systems, such as the one below, but there are also tests on materials, such as intumescents, to be sure of components that may be used within a system.

Fire testing must consider all applicable provisions of the intended product certification. It is also prudent to test products in such a manner as to ensure ease of use and broad, economical applications with regards to listing and approval use and compliance.

Examples of fire testing for products and systems
  • ASTM E84 Standard Test Method for Surface Burning Characteristics of Building Materials, also known as the Steiner tunnel test
  • ASTM E1354 Standard Test Method for Heat and Visible Smoke Release Rates for Materials and Products Using an Oxygen Consumption Calorimeter
  • ASTM E1354 Standard Test Method for Determining Flammability Characteristics of Plastics and Other Solid Materials Using Microscale Combustion Calorimetry
  • ASTM D2863 Standard Test Method for Measuring the Minimum Oxygen Concentration to Support Candle-Like Combustion of Plastics (Oxygen Index)
  • DIN 4102 Part 1 Fire behaviour of building materials and building components – Part 1: Building materials; concepts, requirements and tests
  • UL 94 Standard for Tests for Flammability of Plastic Materials for Parts in Devices and Appliances
  • UL 2221 Tests of Fire Resistive Grease Duct Enclosure Assemblies
  • UL 1479 Fire Tests of Through-Penetration Firestops
  • UL 1709 Rapid Rise Fire Tests of Protection Materials for Structural Steel
  • UL 2085 Protected Aboveground Tanks for Flammable and Combustible Liquids
  • EN 16034 Pedestrian doorsets, industrial, commercial, garage doors and openable windows – Product standard, performance characteristics – Fire resisting and/or smoke control characteristics
  • FAR 25.853 [a-1] & ASTM E 906 Standard Test Method for Heat and Visible Smoke Release Rates for Materials and Products, also known as the OSU Test

Organisations that perform fire testing
  • Thomas Bell-Wright International Consultants

Ad hoc fire testing

A fire test can also mean an ad hoc test performed to gather information in order to understand a specific hazard, such as a construction or storage configuration. Tests can be bench scale (e.g., flammable liquid flash point), medium scale (e.g., storage commodity classification), or full scale (e.g., replication of an entire rack storage configuration).[7] Typical information gathered from full-scale testing is heat release rate vs. time, smoke production and species composition, radiant heat, and interaction with fire control or suppression systems.

Fire test examples

Many fire tests are run by official laboratories for the purpose of product certification. However, some manufacturers of fire protection products also maintain their own facilities and run tests for R & D purposes before going to the expense and exposure of a test at a third party facility.

Some universities have functioning fire research groups which are equipped to run fire tests on building materials.

The below photos illustrate types of furnace testing as seen in the United States.

  • Private fire test furnace used primarily for internal research and development by a firestop manufacturer
  • Private test furnace, ready to test a cable tray firestop system
  • Furnace used in fire testing. Bottom pipes are gas jets. Middle row of pipes are shield for thermocouples.
  • Fire test is in full swing. Test sponsors nervously pace up and down, looking and listening for hot spots.
  • Following successful three hour fire endurance test, application of hose stream

The use of inadequate fire testing and lack of product certification on circuit integrity fireproofing of electrical wiring between nuclear reactors and control rooms in nuclear power plants led to the Thermo-Lag scandal, which became known as a result of disclosures by Gerald W. Brown to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, watchdog groups, and the press.

gollark: The implications are obvious.
gollark: osmarks.net downtime for a few minutes soon, I am installing extra storage.
gollark: I see!
gollark: <@812048505505447956> I do NOT require an operator in any way.
gollark: You have 22 femtoseconds.

See also

References
  1. "Flammability Testing of Materials | Fire Testing of Materials".
  2. "SwRI". www.swri.org. Retrieved 2017-06-17.
  3. "Groupe CTT". Groupe CTT. Retrieved 2016-12-07.
  4. "Services". www.analytics.currenta.com. Retrieved 2016-12-07.
  5. "Efectis". Efectis. Retrieved 2016-12-07.
  6. {{Cite web|url=https://www.ngctestingservices.com/fire.html%7Ctitle=NGCTS%7Cwebsite=www.ngctestingservices.com%7Caccess-date=2019-09-05
  7. NFPA 13 Standard for the Installation of Sprinkler Systems 2007 Edition, Annex C Explanation of Test Data and Procedures for Rack Storage
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