Effect of Construction Method on the Fire Behavior of Sandwich Panels with Expanded Polystyrene Cores in Room Fire Tests

Abstract

Room fire tests are conducted, according to the ISO 9705 or ISO 13784-1 protocols, on steel-skinned sandwich panels with expanded polystyrene (EPS) cores. The thickness of the panel cores, grade of EPS, and construction methods of fixing the panels are varied. During the fire tests, the temperature profiles within the panels are measured to determine the onset of EPS melting and possible flame spread within the panels. Temperature profiles within the room, heat release rate from the room, and ceiling heat flux are also measured. It is found that the construction methods that best restrict pyrolysis gases and molten EPS from leaking out of the panel skins into the room enclosure give the greatest resistance to fire spread and prevent the occurrence of flashover.

Keywords

sandwich panels fire behavior flashover flame spread expanded polystyrene

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Cooke, G. (1998). When are Sandwich Panels Safe in Fire? Part 1 – An Overview, Fire Engineers Journal, 58(195): 37–41 .

Scoones, K. (1997). Serious Fires in Food Industry Premises during 1995, Fire Prevention, 302(September): 30–31.

Schütz, D. (2003). Insulated Sandwich Panels and Fire Risk , regards, 5: 1–3 .

Cooke, G.M.E. (2004). Stability of Lightweight Structural Sandwich Panels Exposed to Fire , Fire and Materials, 28(2–4): 299–308 .

Tucker, W. (1997). Firefighters at Risk, Fire Prevention, 302(September): 17–18.

Cooke, G.M.E. (2000). Sandwich Panels for External Cladding – Fire Safety Issues and Implications for the Risk Assessment, Eurisol – UK Mineral Wool Association Report, Cowbridge, UK , p. 61-61.

Day, T. (2001). Sandwich Panel Fire Performance Compared, Fire Prevention, 347(August): 29–31.

Van Hees, P. and Johansson, P. (2001). The Need for Full-scale Testing of Sandwich Panels – Comparison of Full-scale Tests and Intermediate Scale Tests, In: INTERFLAM 2001 – Proceedings of the 9th International Conference, Interscience Communications , pp. 495–502.

Johansson, P. and Van Hees, P. (2000). Development of a Test Procedure for Sandwich Panels using ISO 9705 Philosophy, Nordtest Project nr 1432-99, Report 2000: 26, Swedish National Testing and Research Institute, Boras, Sweden , p. 29-29.

10.

ISO 9705:1993(E), Fire Tests – Full-scale Room Test for Surface Products, International Organisation for Standardization.

11.

ISO 13784-1:2002 Reaction-to-fire Tests for Sandwich Panel Building Systems – Part 1: Test Method for Small Rooms, International Organisation for Standardization.

12.

AS 1366.3-1992 Rigid Cellular Plastics Sheets for Thermal Insulation. Part 3: Rigid Cellular Polystyrene-Moulded (RC/PS-M), Standards Australia.

13.

AS/NZS 3837-1998 Method of Test for Heat and Smoke Release Rates for Materials and Products using an Oxygen Consumption Calorimeter, Standards Australia.

14.

Kokkala, M.A. , Thomas, P.H. and Karlsson, B. (1993). Rate of Heat Release and Ignitability Indices for Surface Linings , Fire and Materials, 17(5): 209–216 .

15.

Östman, B.A.-L. and Tsantaridis, L.D. (1994). Correlation between Cone Calorimeter Data and Time to Flashover in the Room Fire Test , Fire and Materials, 18(4): 205–209 .

16.

Hansen, S.H. and Hovde, P.J. (2002). Prediction of Time to Flashover in the ISO 9705 Room Corner Test based on Cone Calorimeter Test Results , Fire and Materials, 26(2): 77–86 .