Consideration of Safe Distance of Standard Fire Test Furnace of Building Elements

Journal of Applied Fire Science Issue: Volume 14, Number 2 / 2005-2006 Pages: 125 - 135
Consideration of safe distance of standard fire test furnace of building elements in laboratory
Ying-Ji ChuangA1, Chin-Hsing HuangA1, Po-Hung ChenA2, Chieh-Hsin TangA1, Ching-Yuan LinA1
A1
National Taiwan University of Science and Technology
A2
National Taiwan University of Science and Technology and Kao-Yuan University
*Corresponding author: Ying-Ji Chuang

E-mail address: D9413005@mail.ntust.edu.tw
Department of Architecture, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taipei, Taiwan 10607 .
Tel: +886-2-27333141ext 7514; Fax: +886-2-27376721
Abstract
While installing a standard fire test furnace of building elements in a laboratory, the planner should not only be concerned with ensuring sufficient room for accommodation, but also with the safety of working personnel and the laboratory itself which will be threatened by the thermal radiant heat from the furnace during an uninsulation fire test. With the results of a standard fire test (test subject area of 3m3m) and some simple evaluation formulas, this research has analyzed the relation between the distance and the thermal radiant heat under different fire test times, which can be used as reference by laboratories planning to set up a furnace and accompanying safety management. According to the study, there shall be no combustible materials 5.6m in front of the furnace, and working personnel should stay at least 14.1m away from the front side of the furnace to avoid damage to the skin. Key word: radiant heat, furnace, laboratory
1. Introduction Currently, standard fire test furnaces of building elements (furnace for short hereafter), are commonly set in the laboratories of every developed country. In Taiwan, about 10 furnaces have been installed in various private and governmental organizations. These furnaces are the main equipment used to test the fire resistance rating of various building elements. No matter in which country they are installed, furnaces all have similar operational principles and construction. With ceramic fibers or firebricks paved in its inner body, and running on gas or diesel oil, the furnace is able to maintain its temperature within some specific standard time-temperature curves[1-6], by which they are able to determine the fire resistance rating of the test subject at the time the failure of its insulation, integrity or stability, occurs. Generally speaking, the test subjects set in a furnace are large items (wall area: at least 3m3m, height of columns: at least 3m, length of beams: at least 4m). A laboratory needs to have large space to accommodate those facilities and test subjects. Therefore, the hazards which could occur in construction sites or factories may also take place in a fire test laboratory, for example, falling accidents from high altitude and dangers imposed by overhead traveling cranes, fuel tanks, gas cylinders and so on. In addition, regular processing machines and tools can be found in a fire test laboratory. Hence there are certain standard operation procedures and regulations in the fire test laboratory to prevent potential hazards, and the authorities in charge of the laboratories will also conduct periodical and random inspections on the safety and accuracy of the related test facilities, such as: computers, stopwatches, pressure gauges, thermocouples, signal cables, gas tubes, gas tanks, fuel pipes, appearance of the furnace, and the accuracy of its burning temperature. However the potential fire hazards imposed on the laboratory by a running furnace have been constantly ignored; therefore, incidents have occurred in Taiwan during which laboratory equipment and
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decorations were burned by the thermal radiant heat from furnaces. The tests for furnaces can be categorized into two major types: closed type and half-open type. Closed type tests are mainly used for beams and columns, which are placed in a furnace with its cover closed. As the dangerous flames and thermal radiant heat are isolated in the furnace, they are relatively safer than the half-open type tests. The most hazardous situation takes place during the half-open type tests, in which the thermal radiant heat is emitted from the front of the furnace. For instance, when a test for a fire shutter with metallic blades of 1.5mm thickness (see Fig.1) is performed, the exposed surface of the shutter is located inside the furnace, while the unexposed surface extrudes out of it. As the furnace temperature rises, the thermal radiant heat emitted from the unexposed surface fire shutter increases. Since the fire resistance rating required by common rules on the fire shutter is at least one hour[7], so the laboratory and the working personnel are exposed to the hazards inflicted by the thermal radiant heat for at least one hour. Nowadays, in every country the rules on furnaces have only specified the related test capacities of the furnaces. None of them has defined the safety clearance between the furnace and the surrounding facilities. With the absence of detailed reference data, the location of furnace and the distance between the working personnel and the running furnace are commonly determined by experience, or the precedents of other laboratories. Therefore, the analysis of the potential hazardous factors caused by furnaces is imperative. According to the observation results and test data, this study estimates the dangerous zone caused by thermal radiant heat generated during the half-open type test. The conclusions can be used as a valuable reference for setting up a fire test laboratory and for laboratory authorities establishing relevant rules in the future. The dimensions of the furnace (the area of the fire shutter tested is 3m3m) used in this research conforms to the ISO 3008, and since the test rules
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applied in countries around the world are identical or similar to the ISO 3008, this study is not an isolated case; rather, the results can be applied to the laboratories of other countries. 2. Furnace and specimen The relation between the furnace temperature and burning time is shown in Fig.2: 945.3during the first hour, 1049.0during the second hour, 1109.7during the third hour, and 1152.8during the fourth hour. The inner surface of the furnace is paved with ceramic fibers and firebricks, and the test subject is located at the fore part of the furnace. For the test subject, such as fire walls, fire doors and fire shutters, the area exposed to the fire is 3m3m. Because the insulation performance of fire walls and fire doors is commonly demanded by most of the relevant rules, the tests for them can be declared invalid and stopped in time to avoid imposing substantial hazards on the laboratory when there is any flame penetrating the surface of the test subject, or if the temperature of the unexposed surface exceeds the associated requirements (210 for any single point and 170 for the average)[1]. But this is not the case for the test of conventional fire shutters, which can only conform to the requirement of fire integrity, but possess insufficient insulation performance. For instance, the temperature of the fire shutters unexposed surface can reach 327~527 by the 30th minute during a standard fire test[8], generating dangerous thermal radiant heat lasting to the end of the test, since the flame is not able to penetrate the shutter blades which are made of galvanized steel or stainless steel. As shown in Fig.4, the thermal radiant heat at the location 1m away from the galvanized rolling shutter is 4.63w/cm2 the first hour and 6.70w/cm2 the second hour. However, the corresponding data obtained from a stainless steel rolling shutter are: 3.20w/cm2 and 4.63w/cm2, respectively, because of lower emission rate[9-10]. Therefore the most dangerous situation facing the equipment and working personnel of laboratories will occur during the testing of a galvanized
4
rolling shutter. 3. Radiation With the associated dimensionless factor and the temperature difference between the fire shutter and a specific object[11], the thermal radiant heat absorbed by the object can be calculated from Eq.(1). Howell [12] recommended a simple formula, Eq.(2), to evaluate the absorbed thermal radiant heat of the non-specified object. As shown in
Eq.(2), the thermal radiant heat from the fire shutter is associated with the view factor, which becomes smaller as the distance between the object and the shutter increases. The larger the distance is, the smaller the damage that will be caused by the thermal radiant heat. Along the central axis of the fire shutter, the radiant heat and the view factor are both larger than those at other positions. The view factor along the central axis is expressed by Eq.(4).
qo = (Ts To )
4 4
Eq.(1)
1
1 A 1 1 + s ( 1) = ( - 1) + Fso Ao o s q o = Fso qs
Fso =
Eq.(2) Eq.(3)
Y Y X 1 X tan 1 ( tan 1 ( )+ ) 2 1 + X 2 1+ X 2 1+Y 2 1+Y 2 Y Y X 1 X tan 1 ( tan 1 ( )+ 2 2 2 2 1 + X 1+ X 1+Y 1+Y 2
Fso = 4
) Eq.(4)
: Stefan-Boltzmann constant (5.669610-8 Wm-2K-1)
: a dimensionless factor
Ts : fire shutter surface temperature (K) To : object surface temperature (K) Fso : view factor (the fraction of radiant energy leaving the fire shutter surface
which falls directly upon the object surface)

As : surface area of the fire shutter (m2)
Ao : surface area of the Object (m2)
s : emissivity of the shutter surface o : emissivity of the object surface

qo : thermal radiant heat flux of object (w/cm2) q s : thermal radiant heat flux of fire shutter (w/cm2) X= a/c Y= b/c a,b,c: as shown in Fig. 6 4. Result and discussion The thermal radiant heat at the location 1m away from the shutter (made of galvanized or stainless steel) can be found in Fig.3, so the thermal radiant heat of the fire shutter can be calculated from Eq.(2) and Eq.(3). According to the Stefan-Boltzmann Law, the thermal radiant heat is directly proportional to the fourth power of the temperature. Therefore, for the shutter and the location 1m away from it, the thermal radiant heat at the third and fourth hour can be derived by comparing the furnace temperature and the thermal radiant heat at the location 1m away from the fire shutter. As shown in Table 1, the thermal radiant heat for the galvanized fire shutter can reach 11.92w/cm2 during the 4-hour standard fire test, and for the stainless steel fire shutter, the thermal radiant heat during the first hour can also reach 4.39 w/cm2, greatly exceeding the woods ignition criteria of 1.0 w/cm2[12-15]. These high thermal radiant heat values can make working personnel uncomfortable or even cause second degree burns to the skin. The study of Wieczorek et al.[16]has pointed out that people will not feel the pain in their skin, and can sustain an environment where the thermal radiant heat is below 0.17 w/cm2. However, when the thermal radiant heat increases to
6
0.2w/cm2 or 5w/cm2, they can only sustain 88 seconds or 0.58 second, respectively, before getting second degree burns. Therefore, if the net space in front of the furnace is too small, the working personnel can not avoid harm from the thermal radiant heat, and the instruments and equipment before the furnace will also be damaged, and eventually cause a fire in the laboratory. The hazardous distance (safety clearance) for different standard fire resistance tests of fire shutters are shown in Fig.4 and Fig.5. The safety clearance of 14.1m is necessary for a 4-hour fire resistance test of a galvanized fire shutter, in order to reduce the thermal radiant heat to 0.17w/cm2, under which working personnel can pass in front of the furnace safely without protective equipment. In order to lower the thermal radiant heat to 1.0 w/cm2 and eventually prevent a fire, a 5.6m safety clearance is necessary. Hence, this research recommends that a 14.1m safety clearance in front of the furnace be arranged while installing a furnace. Besides, for various tests, the thermal radiant heat values at different locations in front of the furnace can be found in Fig.4 and Fig.5, which can be applied in positioning the associated equipment for the safety management of the laboratory. 5. Conclusion Normally, the time required for performing the standard fire resistance test will be determined in advance, so the hazardous distance affected by the thermal radiant heat can be accordingly defined from Fig.4~5. Therefore, the safety zone can be arranged and eventually prevent the associated instruments and equipment from being damaged. While installing a furnace in a laboratory, the planner should not only consider the sufficient room and the accuracy of the associated facilities, but also the possible hazards imposed by the thermal radiant heat from various test subjects. According to the results of the 4-hour fire resistance test of a galvanized fire shutter, the safety clearance should be at least 5.6m to avoid possible fire caused by the thermal radiant heat and 14.1m to prevent personnels skin from being harmed. This
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study conclude that there should be 14.1m safety clearance maintained in front of the furnace while installing a 3m3m furnace in a laboratory. If the size of the furnace is bigger than 3m3m, the safety clearance should be expanded on the basis of the evaluation with the simple formulas discussed above and the thermal radiant heat value of the shutter. Through the study on the hazards imposed by the radiant heat generated during a standard fire test, the study hope that the administration of laboratories and the associated authorities will put greater emphasis on the safety features and precautions in laboratories, to avoid any accidents from happening in the future.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the TFPT Co., Ltd. for technically supporting this research.
NOMENCLATURE
: Stefan-Boltzmann constant (5.669610-8 Wm-2K-1)
: a dimensionless factor
Ts : fire shutter surface temperature (K) To : object surface temperature (K) Fso : view factor (the fraction of radiant energy leaving the fire shutter surface which falls directly upon the object surface)
As : surface area of the fire shutter (m2)
Ao : surface area of the Object (m2)
s : emissivity of the shutter surface
o : emissivity of the object surface

qo : thermal radiant heat flux of object (w/cm2) q s : thermal radiant heat flux of fire shutter (w/cm2) X= a/c Y= b/c a,b,c: as shown in Fig.6
Reference 1. CNS 14803, Method of fire resistance test for rolling shutter of buildings [S] (Taiwan), 2002. 2. ASTM E119, Standard Test Methods for Fire Tests of Building Construction and Materials [S], 2000. 3. ISO 3008, Fire-resistance tests -- Door and shutter assemblies [S], 1997. 4. JIS A 1304, Method of fire resistance test for structural parts of buildings [S] (Janpan), 1999. 5. UL 263, Fire Tests of Building Construction and Materials [S], 1998. 6. BS 476 Part 22, Fire Test of Building Materials and Structures. Methods for determination of the fire resistance of non-loadbearing elements of construction [S], 2002. 7. Taiwan building code [S], 2006. 8. L.T. Wong, Safe distance of fire shutters in shopping malls [J], Architectural science review, 2003, 6(4):403-409. 9. Love TJ. Radiative Heat Transfer [M]. Ohio, USA: Charles E. Merrill Publishing Company, 1968. 10. L.T. Wong, Hazard of thermal radiation from a heated fire shutter surface to a standing person [J], Building service engineering and research and technology,
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2003, 24(1):1-8. 11. Galbraith GH, McLean RC, Stewart D., Occupational hot exposures: a review of heat and mass transfer theory [J], Journal of Engineering in Medicine, 1989, 203(3):123-31. 12. Carlos J. Hilado and Regina M. Murphy, Ignition and flash-fire studies of cellulosic materials [J], Fire and Materials, 1978, 2(4): 173-176. 13. Esko Mikkola and Indrek S. Wichman, On the thermal ignition of combustibles [J], Fire and Materials, 1989, 14(3):87-96. 14. Lin, C.Y., Study of exposure fire spread between buildings by radiation [J], Journal of Chinese Institute of Engineers, 2000, 23(4):493-504. 15. A. W. Moulen, S. J. Grubits, K.G. Martin and V. P. Dowling, The early behaviour of combustible wall lining materials [J], Fire and Materials, 1980, 4(4):165-172. 16. Wieczorek, C.J. and Dembsey, N.A., Human variability correction factors for use with simplified engineering tools for predicting pain and second degree skin burns [J], Journal of Fire Production Engineering Research and Technology, 2001, 24(1):1-8.
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Fig.1 Standard fire test of 3m3m fire shutter
1200 1000 Temperature () 800 600 400 200 0 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200 220 240 Time (min) ISO 834 standard curve
Fig.2 ISO 834 standard temperature-time curve
11
Radiant heat flux (w/cm^2)
7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 0 20 40
stainless steel fire shutter stainless steel fire shutter Galvanized fire shutter Galvanized fire shutter
60 80 Time (min)
100
120
Fig.3 Radiant heat fluxes recorded at 1 m across from fire shutters
12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Distance (m)
1 hr fire test 2 hr fire test 3hr fire test 4 hr fire test
10 11 12 13 14 15
Fig.4 Thermal radiant heat flux between furnace and distance (galvanized fire shutter test)
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12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Distance (m)
1 hr fire test 2 hr fire test 3hr fire test 4 hr fire test
10 11 12 13 14 15
Fig.5 Thermal radiant heat flux between furnace and distance (stainless steel fire shutter test)
b A2 c
a dA1
Fig.6 Geometry of the view factor
13
Table 1 Thermal radiant heat flux of fire shutter Test time (hour) Galvanized fire shutter (w/cm2) 1 m across from fire shutter 4.63 6.70 7.85 8.88 Radiation source 6.30 8.61 10.61 11.92 Stainless steel fire shutter (w/cm2) 1 m across from fire shutter 3.20 4.90 5.53 6.31 Radiation source 4.39 6.65 7.55 8.58
1 2 3 4 : calculated value :measured value
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Consideration of Safe Distance of Standard Fire Test Furnace of Building Elements

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Journal of Applied Fire Science Issue: Volume 14, Number 2 / 2005-2006 Pages: 125 - 135

National Taiwan University of Science and Technology

National Taiwan University of Science and Technology and Kao-Yuan University

*Corresponding author: Ying-Ji Chuang

Tel: +886-2-27333141ext 7514; Fax: +886-2-27376721

Y Y X 1 X tan 1 ( tan 1 ( )+ ) 2 1 + X 2 1+ X 2 1+Y 2 1+Y 2 Y Y X 1 X tan 1 ( tan 1 ( )+ 2 2 2 2 1 + X 1+ X 1+Y 1+Y 2

: Stefan-Boltzmann constant (5.669610-8 Wm-2K-1)

which falls directly upon the object surface)

Ao : surface area of the Object (m2)

s : emissivity of the shutter surface o : emissivity of the object surface

: Stefan-Boltzmann constant (5.669610-8 Wm-2K-1)

Ao : surface area of the Object (m2)

s : emissivity of the shutter surface

o : emissivity of the object surface

Fig.1 Standard fire test of 3m3m fire shutter

Fig.2 ISO 834 standard temperature-time curve

Radiant heat flux (w/cm^2)

Fig.3 Radiant heat fluxes recorded at 1 m across from fire shutters

Radiant heat flux (w/cm^2)

1 hr fire test 2 hr fire test 3hr fire test 4 hr fire test

Radiant heat flux (w/cm^2)

1 hr fire test 2 hr fire test 3hr fire test 4 hr fire test

Fig.6 Geometry of the view factor

1 2 3 4 : calculated value :measured value

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