| Flame spread over partition materials is one of the key driving forces in the fire growth in a compartment. An appropriate test method should be selected which is the key subject of this thesis. The study includes three major areas.; The first area includes review of flame spread mechanisms, local legislative requirements on flame spread and use of construction materials. Partition materials with high flame spread hazard were identified. The likelihood of flashover in a typical small room covered by those materials was predicted using an empirical equation based on ventilation factor. Standard flame spread tests were reviewed and compared. Possible correlations of the tests were made.; The second area is a series of full-scale burning tests on common partition and lining materials carried out in collaboration with the Harbin Engineering University. Wood partitions, fire retardants and plastics were tested in a room calorimeter similar to ISO 9705. Heat release rate, time to flashover and flame spread rates were measured. Tests included a fully-lined room under a 45 kW small fire located at the room corner, products covered on one side of the room under a 100 kW growing fire and tests of products under a 2.3 MW flashover fire. Results showed products with limited flame spread and heat release rate under the small growing fire tests gave out much more heat and even fully consumed in the flashover fires. Testing under flashover is proposed to evaluate the actual contributions of the materials in a fire. Such approach is recommended to the local Authority on assessing flame spread over partition materials.; In the third area, mathematical flame spread models were reviewed. A new model was developed in which the radiation from the flame, treated as a two-dimensional homogeneous gas/particulates medium, is described using a gray soot model with an absorption coefficient. The model is used to predict the radiative heat transfer, flame front and burnout front of an opposed flame spread problem in the Lateral Ignition and Flame spread Test setup using data from the Cone Calorimeter. Limitations of the models were identified and further improvements were suggested. |
