scholarly journals Fire Behavior of Electrical Installations in Buildings

Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (23) ◽  
pp. 6433
Author(s):  
Jadwiga Fangrat ◽  
Katarzyna Kaczorek-Chrobak ◽  
Bartłomiej K. Papis

Electrical installations are a significant component of fire load inside a building, although they are often neglected in the overall fire safety analysis and are not subjected to any kind of fire safety evaluation of a building. A typical electrical installation unconnected to the mains was experimentally studied using a single burning item (SBI) test apparatus, fixed to two types of popular non-combustible or combustible (wooden-based) backgrounds simulating a typical building internal wall or ceiling. The semi-real scale test showed that poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) cable, commonly used in installations in buildings in Europe and used in SBI tests, showed high fire properties related to heat release, smoke production and flame spread to other interior elements. The results of the electrical circuit connected to the main measurements carried out showed a significant impact of the heating effect towards the uncovered surface socket, causing the possibility of easy ignition inside the installation. In conclusion, it was found that even a relatively simple and short section of electrical installation resulted in a significant increase in the heat release rate and smoke generation parameters, obtained during the SBI tests, and as a consequence a reduction of one or two reaction to fire euroclasses of construction materials for internal walls.

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 24-48
Author(s):  
Quoc-Bao Nguyen ◽  
Henri Vahabi ◽  
Agustín Rios de Anda ◽  
Davy-Louis Versace ◽  
Valérie Langlois ◽  
...  

This study has developed novel fully bio-based resorcinol epoxy resin–diatomite composites by a green two-stage process based on the living character of the cationic polymerization. This process comprises the photoinitiation and subsequently the thermal dark curing, enabling the obtaining of thick and non-transparent epoxy-diatomite composites without any solvent and amine-based hardeners. The effects of the diatomite content and the compacting pressure on microstructural, thermal, mechanical, acoustic properties, as well as the flame behavior of such composites have been thoroughly investigated. Towards the development of sound absorbing and flame-retardant construction materials, a compromise among mechanical, acoustic and flame-retardant properties was considered. Consequently, the composite obtained with 50 wt.% diatomite and 3.9 MPa compacting pressure is considered the optimal composite in the present work. Such composite exhibits the enhanced flexural modulus of 2.9 MPa, a satisfying sound absorption performance at low frequencies with Modified Sound Absorption Average (MSAA) of 0.08 (for a sample thickness of only 5 mm), and an outstanding flame retardancy behavior with the peak of heat release rate (pHRR) of 109 W/g and the total heat release of 5 kJ/g in the pyrolysis combustion flow calorimeter (PCFC) analysis.


2018 ◽  
Vol 53 (12) ◽  
pp. 1705-1715 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yousof M Ghazzawi ◽  
Andres F Osorio ◽  
Michael T Heitzmann

The fire performance of polycarbonate resin and the role of glass fibre reinforcement in altering the fire performance was investigated. Three different fibre weaves with comparable surface density, plain, twill, and unidirectional glass fabrics, were used as reinforcements. E-glass fabrics were solution-impregnated with polycarbonate/dichloromethyl, laid up, and compression-moulded to consolidate the glass fibre reinforced polycarbonate composite. Cone calorimetry tests with an incident radiant flux of 35 kW/m2 were used to investigate the fire properties of polycarbonate resin and its composites. Results showed that glass fibre reinforcement improves polycarbonate performance by delaying its ignition, decreasing its heat release rate, and lowering the mass loss rate. The three fibre weave types exhibited similar time to ignition. However, unidirectional fibre had a 35% lower peak heat release rate followed when compared to plain and twill weave fibres.


2005 ◽  
Vol 11 (22) ◽  
pp. 237-242
Author(s):  
Yasushi TAKEI ◽  
Seiji YAMADA ◽  
Daisuke KAMIKAWA ◽  
Yuji HASEMI

2021 ◽  
Vol 35 (6) ◽  
pp. 61-67
Author(s):  
Soo-Kyung Shin ◽  
Young-Hoon Bae ◽  
Jun-Ho Choi

Long-term care hospitals for the elderly are places for the elderly and patients with impaired mobility to live in, but these places face a high risk of great damage in the event of a fire. The standards for fire safety at long-term care hospitals for the elderly are limited to inspection of firefighting facilities and training plans, with no index to evaluate the evacuation plans, facilities for evacuation in case of fire, and the fire response manuals of long-term care hospitals for the elderly. Therefore, this study tries to carry out a basic analysis and establish fire safety evaluation indices for long-term care hospitals for the elderly. To that end, the study derives the importance and priorities of the indices related to fire safety in long-term care hospitals for the elderly through an analytic hierarchy process questionnaire surveying 44 firefighting experts. Finally, considering the importance and priorities of the indices, this study presents fire safety evaluation standards (drafts) for long-term care hospitals for the elderly.


2019 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 193-212
Author(s):  
Xi Cheng ◽  
Jianming Wu ◽  
Chenguang Yao ◽  
Guisheng Yang

This study compared thermal degradation, pyrolysis behavior, and the fire behavior of flame-retarded glass-fiber-reinforced polyamide 6 with aluminum hypophosphite and aluminum phenylphosphinate (BPA-Al), respectively. We sythesize aluminum phenylphosphinate by benzenephosphinic acid (BPA) and AlCl3.6H2O in water. so we call aluminum phenylphosphinate BPA-Al for short. The dependence of limiting oxygen index on phosphorus content was linear for aluminum hypophosphite and BPA-Al. Thermogravimetric analysis proved aluminum hypophosphite was less stable than BPA-Al. Thermogravimetric-Fourier transform infrared tests showed that aluminum hypophosphite system balanced the charring process and the gas releasing well, and that BPA-Al system enhanced the charring process and decreased the gas releasing. Peak heat release rate and total heat release data proved that aluminum hypophosphite system was superior to BPA-Al system in lowering the heat release. Their differences were caused by different P-H (aluminum hypophosphite) and P-phenyl (BPA-Al) structures. P-H structure did better than P-phenyl structure in balancing the condensed phase effect and the gaseous phase action. So P-H structure (aluminum hypophosphite) was more suitable than P-phenyl structure (BPA-Al) in the flame retardancy of glass-fiber-reinforced polyamide 6.


2014 ◽  
Vol 592-594 ◽  
pp. 380-384 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Ramanaiah ◽  
A.V. Ratna Prasad ◽  
K. Hema Chandra Reddy

Natural fiber composites (NFC) and glass fiber composites (GFC) have been prepared by incorporating elephant grass fibers and glass fibers in to polyester matrix via hand layup technique. In this study, the fire properties of composites have been evaluated by cone calorimeter. The addition of elephant grass fiber has effectively reduced the average heat release rate (Av. HRR) and peak heat release rate (PHRR) of the matrix by 28 %, and 36 %, respectively. Maximum average heat rate emission and carbon monoxide yield of the bio composites decrease substantially compared with that of matrix. However, average carbon dioxide yield, and total smoke release values of matrix are slightly increased with the addition of the elephant grass fiber. The NFC ignites earlier, release greater levels of heat when compared with that of GFC. Average HRR, PHRR and THR values of NFC are about 39%, 71% and 38% greater than those of GFC, respectively. Further, theoretical models were used to predict time to flashover and FO classification of composites.


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