- Author
-
Fang, J. B.
- Title
- Fire Buildup in a Room and the Role of Interior Finish Materials. Final Report.
- Coporate
- National Bureau of Standards, Gaithersburg, MD
- Report
-
NBS TN 879,
June 1975,
49 p.
- Distribution
- AVAILABLE FROM Government Printing Office, Washington, DC 20401-0003. Telephone: 202-512-1800. Website: http://www.gpo.gov AVAILABLE FROM National Technical Information Service (NTIS), Technology Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, Springfield, VA 22161. Telephone: 1-800-553-6847 or 703-605-6000; Fax: 703-605-6900; Rush Service (Telephone Orders Only) 800-553-6847; Website: http://www.ntis.gov
- Keywords
-
buildings
|
fire growth
|
flame spread
|
heat release
|
room fires
|
smoke
|
cribs
- Abstract
- A variety of wall and ceiling panels in a full-scale room corner have been exposed to a fire from a standardized wood crib, simulating the environment produced by the burning of a single item of furniture, to evaluate their contribution to room fire growth. A total of twenty room corner tests were performed using selected combinations of eight wood-base and gypsum board-base interior finish materials on the walls and ceiling. Gas temperatures and velocites, surface temperatures, heat fluxes, smoke densities, and concentrations of oxygen, carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide were measured. Ignition times of newsprint, cotton fabric and plywood in the lower part of the room were also recorded. The results of these full-scale tests were compared with laboratory tests of the ease of ignition, surface flame spread, heat release rate and smoke generation on the same materials. The maximum upper room gas temperature has been found to agree with the ignition of such indicators as newsprint and plywood, and to represent a measure of fire hazard in terms of potential involvement of all combustible contents or room flashover. A temperature range of 450 to 650 deg. C appears to be the boundary between limited and full involvement.