The discrepancies in energy balance in furnace testing, a bug or a feature?

• Published in: Fire and materials Vol. 44; no. 3; pp. 311 - 322
• Main Authors: Węgrzyński, Wojciech, Turkowski, Piotr, Roszkowski, Paweł
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Bognor Regis Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01.04.2020
• Subjects: Aeration; Aluminum; Assemblies; ASTM E119; Autoclaving; Benchmarks; Concrete blocks; Concrete construction; Doors; Drywall; EN 1363‐1; Energy balance; fire resistance; Flammability; Gypsum; Heat; Heat release rate; Heat transfer; ISO 834; Sandwich panels; Sandwich structures; standard fire testing; temperature‐time curve; Testing laboratories
• ISSN: 0308-0501; 1099-1018
• DOI: 10.1002/fam.2735

Summary The paper aims to explain the differences found in the heat release rate measurements in a large sample of standard fire tests (EN 1363‐1). A total of 379 tests of vertical assemblies was investigated, all performed in furnace SPARK of the ITB Fire Testing Laboratory, in 2015‐2018. The assemblies were subdivided into two groups—wall assemblies and fire‐rated doors. These assemblies were also compared with the results of the test of a wall built with aerated autoclaved concrete blocks that was considered as the benchmark test. It was observed that walls built with highly insulated sandwich panels require less heat to maintain standard thermal exposure conditions (20%‐30% less) than their counterparts built from gypsum plasterboard or aluminium and fire‐rated glass. In case of doors, it was observed that combustible samples required significantly less heat than the benchmark case (40%‐70% less), which indicates that the combustion of the sample inside of the furnace was an additional, significant source of heat release, that may skew the qualitative assessment of their performance in fire. A more in‐depth discussion of the results is provided, with some ideas on the direction of further developments in fire testing.