Amirouche Sadaoui, Christian Dagenais, Pierre Blanchet, Cédric Perez
{"title":"The evolution of reaction to fire classification of materials: A case study of Canada","authors":"Amirouche Sadaoui, Christian Dagenais, Pierre Blanchet, Cédric Perez","doi":"10.1002/fam.3227","DOIUrl":"10.1002/fam.3227","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Combustible and noncombustible notions have evolved with time, along with the associated fire tests by which legislation classifies building materials. New Zealand, Japan, and Europe are just some of the many legislations that have followed this evolution, except for North American regulations, which remain attached to methods dating back to 1944. To better understand this stagnation in North American practices, this document first traces the evolution of Canadian regulations on fire classification of materials. Then, a parallel is drawn with the evolution of reaction to fire tests mandated in the National Building Code of Canada. Finally, this paper will review the current fire classification of materials concerning the combustibility concept based on the Steiner tunnel test and the flame spread rating criteria. The analysis reveals that the relevance of the test and its results are questionable, and the reciprocity between test measurement and its classification does not always coincide. Despite the revisions made through time, the classification of materials based on their fire properties remains distinctly binary.</p>","PeriodicalId":12186,"journal":{"name":"Fire and Materials","volume":"48 7","pages":"737-751"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2024-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/fam.3227","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141549919","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Miriam Kleinhenz, Pedro Palma, Alar Just, Andrea Frangi
{"title":"Modelling the fire resistance of cross-laminated timber rib panels","authors":"Miriam Kleinhenz, Pedro Palma, Alar Just, Andrea Frangi","doi":"10.1002/fam.3226","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/fam.3226","url":null,"abstract":"<p>A cross-laminated timber rib panel is a floor system comprising cross-laminated timber plates rigidly bonded to glued-laminated timber ‘rib’ beams. A design method was developed to estimate the fire resistance of cross-laminated timber rib panels, based on a bending load-carrying model. The bending load-carrying model calculates the bending load-carrying capacity of cross-laminated timber rib panels based on simulated temperature distributions of numerical models. The numerical models were validated against the experimental results of full-scale fire resistance tests. The proposed design method is based on the overall approach of the current revised draft of EN 1995-1-2:2004, that is, prEN 1995-1-2:2023, and provides conservative estimates of the bending load-carrying capacity. The <i>effective width</i> is one of the most important design parameters and its influence was studied in detail. A limit value of 60% of the effective width according to prEN 1995-1-1:2023 is proposed as effective width in fire.</p>","PeriodicalId":12186,"journal":{"name":"Fire and Materials","volume":"48 7","pages":"725-736"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2024-06-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142430074","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
M. Taylor, H. Francis, J. Fielding, I. Jarman, T. Etchells
{"title":"A chaos theory view of accidental dwelling fire injuries","authors":"M. Taylor, H. Francis, J. Fielding, I. Jarman, T. Etchells","doi":"10.1002/fam.3225","DOIUrl":"10.1002/fam.3225","url":null,"abstract":"<p>In this article, we examine a chaos theory view of accidental dwelling fire injuries using data from a UK fire and rescue service over a 10-year period. Although chaos theory could not predict if or when a fire injury will occur for a given individual, chaos theory provided further information above and beyond the typical statistical analyses undertaken by fire and rescue services in terms of identifying pattern repetitions, interconnectedness of circumstances and sensitivity to initial conditions relating to the circumstances of accidental dwelling fire injuries. Householder behaviours such as attempting to tackle the fire or being under the influence of alcohol or drugs were the most prevalent circumstances relating to fire injury over the period studied. Proportions of smoke/toxic fumes inhalation injuries and injuries sustained attempting to fight the fire compared to the overall numbers of fire injuries per year showed pattern repetition over the period studied. In terms of interconnectedness, although there were roughly equal numbers of male and female fire injuries overall, the likelihood of an alcohol-/drug-related fire injury or a fire injury resulting from attempting to put out a fire was strongly connected with the gender of the householder involved.</p>","PeriodicalId":12186,"journal":{"name":"Fire and Materials","volume":"48 7","pages":"715-724"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2024-06-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/fam.3225","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141384150","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Shengzhong Zhao, Hanxiao Gao, Tiantian Xu, Fei Wang, Imad Obadi, Lin Xu, Junhao Yu, Mengzhen Liu
{"title":"The influence of cross-sectional aspect ratio on ceiling temperature profile and mass flow rate of ceiling jet in tunnel fires","authors":"Shengzhong Zhao, Hanxiao Gao, Tiantian Xu, Fei Wang, Imad Obadi, Lin Xu, Junhao Yu, Mengzhen Liu","doi":"10.1002/fam.3223","DOIUrl":"10.1002/fam.3223","url":null,"abstract":"<p>In this paper, the influence of tunnel cross-sectional aspect ratio on the ceiling temperature profile and mass flow rate (MFR) of ceiling jet is studied theoretically and numerically, and 13 tunnel cross sections with different aspect ratios (<span></span><math>\u0000 <mrow>\u0000 <mi>ξ</mi>\u0000 </mrow></math>) are considered. A total of 26 full-scale numerical simulation cases are conducted using Fire Dynamics Simulator, and small-scale experiments are used to verify the accuracy of the simulations. Results show that the maximum ceiling temperature is more sensitive to the tunnel height and decreases with increasing aspect ratio, which can be divided into two regions, <span></span><math>\u0000 <mrow>\u0000 <mi>ξ</mi>\u0000 </mrow></math> <1 and <span></span><math>\u0000 <mrow>\u0000 <mi>ξ</mi>\u0000 </mrow></math> ≥1. When <span></span><math>\u0000 <mrow>\u0000 <mi>ξ</mi>\u0000 </mrow></math> ≥1, the maximum ceiling temperature varies more linearly. The initial locations of the one-dimensional spread for the tunnel with different tunnel cross-sectional aspect ratios are similar, which are concentrated at 15–20 m from the fire source when taking the MFR increase rate of 0.001 as the criterion. By introducing the sectional coefficient, the MFR model and temperature attenuation model of ceiling jet are developed for the tunnels with <span></span><math>\u0000 <mrow>\u0000 <mi>ξ</mi>\u0000 </mrow></math> <1 and <span></span><math>\u0000 <mrow>\u0000 <mi>ξ</mi>\u0000 </mrow></math> ≥1, respectively. The results of this paper could provide definite reference value for the smoke control in tunnel fires.</p>","PeriodicalId":12186,"journal":{"name":"Fire and Materials","volume":"48 6","pages":"682-696"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2024-06-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141274088","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Effects of incident heat flux on heat release rates and temperatures in cone calorimeter tests of polyurethane foam","authors":"Obiora Ugo-Okeke, David Torvi","doi":"10.1002/fam.3224","DOIUrl":"10.1002/fam.3224","url":null,"abstract":"<p>There is great interest in developing methods to predict full-scale fire performance of mattresses and upholstered furniture for design and regulatory purposes using cone calorimeter and other small-scale test results. One method used in the past is a model developed during the European Combustion Behavior of Upholstered Furniture (CBUF) project. To support the further development of this model, cone calorimeter tests of polyurethane (PU) foam specimens 5–10 cm thick were conducted using incident heat fluxes between 5 and 35 kW/m<sup>2</sup>. Temperatures were measured using thermocouples located on the surface and at four depths within 10 cm thick foam specimens to determine the effects of heat flux on heat transfer and foam degradation. Peak and average heat release rate (HRR) values for a particular thickness of foam increased with an increase in heat flux. An increase in heat flux decreased the times to reach the two peaks in the HRR curve, which represent the collapse of foam and burning of liquid products, as well as burning duration. Heat flux had a larger effect on the second HRR peak than the first peak. Significant temperature gradients were initially confined to the top portion of the foam. A surface temperature of 150–200°C was shown to be indicative of the onset of ignition, while a temperature of 150°C at a particular location was indicative of when temperatures began to more rapidly increase at deeper locations within the foam. Infrared video records were also used to examine three-dimensional burning behavior of the foam.</p>","PeriodicalId":12186,"journal":{"name":"Fire and Materials","volume":"48 7","pages":"699-714"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2024-05-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141190938","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Yan Huo, Xueyan Xu, Yang Li, Ruonan Li, Zhijin Yu, Weifeng Wang
{"title":"Experimental and theoretical research on the temperature evolution law of overcurrent fault wires","authors":"Yan Huo, Xueyan Xu, Yang Li, Ruonan Li, Zhijin Yu, Weifeng Wang","doi":"10.1002/fam.3210","DOIUrl":"10.1002/fam.3210","url":null,"abstract":"<p>To investigate the problems of overload and excessive thermal insulation associated with building electrical fires caused by wires, a theoretical model of wire heat transfer is established, and the pyrolysis and combustion phenomena of the insulation layer are analyzed. The results showed that the temperature evolution of the wire underwent three stages: constant temperature, insulation heating, and high-temperature pyrolysis. The insulation layer experiences bulging, exhausting, carbonization, dripping, and burning in sequence, and insulation layer dripping requires at least 160 A of current. As the current increases, the temperature increase rate of the wire increases gradually, and the fusing time of the wire gradually decreases. Under the same current, 160°C is the turning point at which the temperature increases. The temperature increase rate of the copper wire is greater than that of the aluminum alloy wire, and the temperature increase rate of the bare wire is greater than that of the insulated wire. The fusing time of an aluminum alloy wire is less than that of a copper wire, and the fusing time of a bare wire is less than that of an insulated wire. The research results provide theoretical guidance for the prevention and investigation of building electrical fires.</p>","PeriodicalId":12186,"journal":{"name":"Fire and Materials","volume":"48 6","pages":"632-641"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2024-05-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141107260","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Evaluation of exterior wall cavity fires using an intermediate scale test method","authors":"Neythra Weerakkody, Nathan White, Khalid Moinuddin","doi":"10.1002/fam.3213","DOIUrl":"10.1002/fam.3213","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Cavities form an integral part of many external wall systems (EWSs). Numerous external wall fires worldwide have been primarily due to combustible exterior cladding. However, the Grenfell Tower and Knowsley Heights fire incidents (in the UK) are examples where wall cavity materials have impacted fire spread. Wall cavity materials are typically regulated by small-scale fire test methods which do not necessarily represent the actual fire conditions that can exist within wall cavities. This experimental study proposes an intermediate-scale test (IST) protocol to examine cavity wall fire behaviour. This protocol is a modified version of the FM Global Cavity Fire Test method (within the FM 4411-2020 series). The study examines a broad range of cavity materials including sarking, polyester insulation, phenolic foam, PIR, and EPS. A low-intensity (6–8 kW) and high-intensity (~80 kW) ignition sources were used to represent two types of cavity fire scenarios. These two fire sizes were shown to differentiate reaction to fire behaviour between these materials and explore the “tipping point” in resulting fire behaviour (which may lie between these two intensities). This proposed cavity fire test protocol provides a suitable “elevated fire risk assessment tool” for combustible cavity materials.</p>","PeriodicalId":12186,"journal":{"name":"Fire and Materials","volume":"48 6","pages":"668-681"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2024-05-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140977627","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Featured Cover","authors":"Xukun Sun, Hideki Yoshioka, Takafumi Noguchi, Yuhei Nishio, Yoshifumi Ohmiya, Tetsuya Hayakawa, Biao Zhou","doi":"10.1002/fam.2954","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/fam.2954","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The cover image is based on the Research Article <i>Large eddy simulations fire modeling of JIS A 1310 façade calibration test with respect to sidewall</i> by Xukun Sun et al., https://doi.org/10.1002/fam.3192.\u0000\u0000\u0000 <figure>\u0000 <div><picture>\u0000 <source></source></picture><p></p>\u0000 </div>\u0000 </figure></p>","PeriodicalId":12186,"journal":{"name":"Fire and Materials","volume":"48 4","pages":"i"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2024-05-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/fam.2954","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140844856","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Khalid Moinuddin, Malavika Arun, Alex Filkov, Paul Joseph, Maurice Guerrieri
{"title":"Thermal and calorimetric investigations of some vegetative fuels","authors":"Khalid Moinuddin, Malavika Arun, Alex Filkov, Paul Joseph, Maurice Guerrieri","doi":"10.1002/fam.3211","DOIUrl":"10.1002/fam.3211","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Bushfires pose a significant threat to numerous countries, often causing vast property damages and loss of lives. Efforts to combat and manage these fires heavily rely on predicting the fires' rate of spread and intensity. A significant component of these predictions involves understanding the thermophysical characteristics of vegetative fuels. The accuracy of predictive models (especially physical models) also depends on obtaining precise thermophysical and combustion parameters. This research aims to provide a comprehensive set of thermal degradation and combustion parameters for surface and near-surface fuel samples collected during prescribed fire experiment conducted in April 2022 in Little Desert National Park, Victoria, Australia. Firstly, fuel properties like fuel height, moisture content, bulk density, fuel load and heat of combustion were meticulously characterized for both surface and near-surface samples. Then activation energies for degradation reactions were determined using the Flynn–Wall–Ozawa method and for the determination of pre-exponential factors, in most cases these reactions closely aligned with a Second order model. This was followed by determination of other parameters such as heat of reaction, specific heat and conductivity. It was found that the density, activation energy and heat of combustion did not vary significantly across the six samples under question. The comprehensive set of obtained parameters will likely help to facilitate better predictions in fire propagation modelling.</p>","PeriodicalId":12186,"journal":{"name":"Fire and Materials","volume":"48 6","pages":"642-656"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2024-05-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140882680","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Improving the flame retardancy and smoke suppression of flexible PVC by incorporating zinc borate-modified diantimony trioxide","authors":"Bin Zhang, Shaohua Zeng","doi":"10.1002/fam.3212","DOIUrl":"10.1002/fam.3212","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The properties and structure of flexible PVC by incorporating zinc borate (ZB)-modified diantimony trioxide (Sb<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub>) were investigated. The results of flame retardancy and smoke suppression testing indicate that there was an obvious maximum Limited oxygen index (LOI) value of PVC/20 wt.% ZB–Sb<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub> composites reached 37.5% and passed the UL 94 V-0 rating. An obvious synergistic effect between ZB and Sb<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub> was observed by LOI, SDR, and TG. Moreover, remarkable decreases in the smoke density were observed when ZB–Sb<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub> was incorporated into PVC. In addition, the tensile strength and elongation at break of PVC/ZB–Sb<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub> composites was higher than PVC/Sb<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub> composites, and this ameliorative effect was mainly arising from the ZB–Sb<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub> nanoparticles, which reduced the degree of fatal defects on PVC. The addition of ZB and Sb<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub> greatly increased the amount of residual char and apparently improved the mechanical properties of PVC composites. According to scanning electron microscopy photographs of residual char, after thermal decomposition, there were many fragments linked to the condensed phase and the compact char layer. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy shows the residues char was composed of benzene ring, the flame retardants occurred and the condensed phase with significant interactions.</p>","PeriodicalId":12186,"journal":{"name":"Fire and Materials","volume":"48 6","pages":"657-667"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2024-05-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140829798","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}