- Author
- Zalok, E. | Bwalya, A. | Hadjisophocieous, G.
- Title
- Medium-Scale Fire Experiments of Commercial Premises.
- Coporate
- National Research Council of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario
- Report
- NRCC-45397,
- Book or Conf
- Fire and Materials Conference 2005. Proceedings. January 31-February 2005, San Fancisco, CA, 1-12 p., 2005
- Keywords
- experiments | fire load | combustibles | commercial buildings | design fires | fire tests | surveys | textiles | plastics | wood | paper | heat release rate
- Identifiers
- floor area, fire load density and total fire load for all 168 stores in the survey; loor area, fire load density and total fire load for the major groupings; mean composition (%) of combustibles by generic materials; fire load density, mass and composition of combustibles used in the experiments; summary of the test results; ranking of the fire tests by fire qualities
- Abstract
- This paper presents and discusses the results of a fIre load survey and of a set of medium-scale fire experiments, which were jointly conducted by Carleton University and the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) to determine the burning characteristics of combustibles in commercial premises. The experiments were conducted in an ISO 9705 compatible dimensions and the fire load density used in the experiments ranged from 661 MJ/m2 to 4,900 MJ/m2. The long-term objective of this work is to develop design fIres for commercial buildings. The combustibles present in the buildings were determined through a fire load survey of 168 commercial premises that was conducted in 2003 in the Canadian cities of Ottawa and Gatineau. The products in the shops included clothing, footwear, toys, computer equipment, books, foodstuff, alcohol, pharmaceuticals, arts and crafts supplies, and photographic and hairdressing products. The results from the tests reveal interesting and varied burning characteristics of the fuel packages simulating the fuel loads found in the different shops. Fuel packages consisting of high plastic, rubber and edible-oil content attained high peak heat release rates (1,300 to 1,950 KW) and exhibited fast fire growth and significant smoke production (0.96 to 2.74 OD/m). The paper also presents the detailed results, including a test log, of a fire test with a fuel package simulating a fast food shop. The results show that the fire reached a peak heat release rate of about 1562 kW at 6.5 minutes from ignition, and a peak gas temperature of 735 deg C in the hot layer.