- Author
-
Babrauskas, V.
|
Harris, R. H., Jr.
|
Braun, E.
|
Levin, B. C.
|
Paabo, M.
|
Gann, R. G.
- Title
- Large-Scale Validation of Bench-Scale Fire Toxicity Tests.
- Coporate
- National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD
- Journal
-
Journal of Fire Sciences,
Vol. 9,
No. 2,
125-148,
March/April 1991
- Book or Conf
- Interscience Communications Ltd.; National Institute of Standards and Technology; Building Research Establishment; and Society of Fire Protection Engineers. Interflam 1990. (Interflam '90). Fire Safety. International Fire Conference, 5th. September 3-6, 1990,
Interscience Communications Ltd., London, England,
Canterbury, England,
Franks, C. A., Editors,
3-12 p.,
['1990', '1991']
- Keywords
-
fire safety
|
toxicity test methods
|
validation
|
polyvinyl chloride
|
radiant heating
|
polyurethane foams
|
rigid foams
|
room fires
|
wood
- Abstract
- A large number of bench-scale fire toxicity tests have been proposed over the last two decades. So far, none of them has reached acceptance by ISO, by ASTM, or by the majority of professionals in this area. The reasons are varied, but a major concern has been that none of the methods were seen to adequately predict the behavior of real, large-scale building fires. Such validation efforts have been held back both due to a shortage of good quality data, and because agreement had not been reached on the criteria for successful validation. NIST has now completed a pilot project to address both of these issues. In this study, systematic criteria for validation have been put forth. An initial data set has been compared against these criteria, comprising 2 bench-scale methods, 3 test materials, and a single real-scale fire scenario. The project results indicate that the course being pursued is appropriate, and provide illustrative performance data for the two bench-scale methods. The present project was a pilot study; further validation data will have to come from additional test materials and additional real-scale fire scenarios being examined. As a result of these studies, a factor-of-3 agreement between bench-scale and real-scale results was established as both useful and practical.