Room/corner test

Figure 7. Schematic view of the Room/Corner Test Apparatus.

The group also agreed to work with the Swedish proposal /12/ employing the Cone Calorimeter and the Room/Corner Test and explore whether it proves to be adequate in terms of technical relevance, costs, etc. 

Several standard room/corner test protocols are now available and are specified in codes and regulations for qualifying interior finishes. For example, U.S. model building codes require that textile wall coverings for use in unsprinklered compartments meet specific performance requirements when tested according to NFPA 265. The principal requirement of these tests is that flash-over does not occur. The same codes also require that all other interior wall and ceiling finish materials comply with requirements based on NFPA 286, including a limit on the total smoke released. 

The large-scale test data (from the ISO room corner test) show very good agreement with the SSTF data. It is notable that the controlled atmosphere cone shows higher CO yields in well-ventilated conditions and, crucially, lower CO yields in under-ventilated conditions. It has been reported72 that correction can be applied to the calculation of equivalence ratio from the controlled atmosphere cone. 

FIGURE 20.4 Comparison of measured and modeled HRR in room corner test on particle board. Model calculations are for total HRR calculated with heat transfer limited pyrolysis model. (Adapted from Yan, Z. and Holmstedt, G Fire Saf../., 27, 201, 1996.)... 

FIGURE 20.6 Comparison of measured and modeled HRR in room/corner test on plywood. From Moghaddam et al. [96] for ethanol reaction case. (Adapted from Moghaddam, A.Z. et al., Fire behavior studies of combustible wall linings applying fire dynamics simulator, in Proceedings of the 15th Australasian Fluid Mechanics Conference, Sydney, Australia, 2004.)... 

FIGURE 20.7 Comparison of measured and modeled HRR in room/corner test with wood lining materials. (Adapted from Carlsson, J., Computational strategies in flame-spread modelling involving wooden surfaces—An evaluation study, Lund University Department of Fire Safety Engineering, Lund, Sweden, Report 1028, 2003.)... 

In the study of Hietaniemi et al. [76], the model reproduced well most of the experiments conducted on spruce, but the calculated HRR was sensitive to the back-face boundary condition in the SBI test and the observed decay in the HRR in the cavity experiment was not captured by the model. Modeled HRR for medium density fiberboard closely matched room/corner test data, whereas HRR in the SBI test was not reproduced as closely. The HRR of the PVC wall carpet was reproduced reasonably well in the SBI test, but was overpredicted in the room corner test, probably owing to the discrepancy between the back-face boundary condition in reality and in the model. For the upholstered chair, FDS underestimated the time to ignition and the peak HRR compared with experimental data for both the furniture calorimeter and ISO room cases. Finally, for the polyethylene-sheathed cables in the 6 m cavity, the modeled HRR matched the experimental data fairly closely. In general, the results of Hietaniemi et al. [76] are encouraging. 

A number of modern full-scale fire test methods have been developed for products, relying on heat release rate measurements, such as those involving testing of upholstered furniture (ASTM E 153792 and CA TB 13391), mattresses (ASTM E 1590,85 CA TB 129,82 CA TB 603,88 16 CFR 1633,19 and ASTM F 1085 [Annexes A1 and A3]171), stacking chairs (ASTM E 1822172), electrical cables (ASTM D 5424,173 ASTM D 5537,174 and UL 1685123), plastic display stands (UL 1975),175 other decorative items (NFPA 289,176 a generic furniture calorimeter test), electrical equipment (UL 2043),120 or wall-lining products (NFPA 265,116 NFPA 286,115 ASTM E 2257,177 and ISO 9705178). In fact, room-corner tests are now being used in the codes, as alternatives to replace the... 

ASTM E 84 Steiner tunnel test, thus generating more useful results. Figure 21.13 shows a room-comer test layout. The cone calorimeter fire-performance index (with tests conducted at 50kW/m2)179 was shown to be a good predictor of time to flashover in FAA full aircraft fires170 180 and in the ISO 9705 room-corner test.181 In addition, the same cone calorimeter tests, but using only heat release criteria, have been shown to have almost perfect predictability of ISO 9705 room-comer test rankings.181... 

The majority of the materials with low flame spread (or low heat release) also exhibit low smoke release. However, it has been shown in several series of room-corner test projects (with the tested material lining either the walls or the walls and the ceiling), that -10% of the materials tested (8 out of 84) exhibited adequate heat-release (or fire growth) characteristics, but have very high smoke release (Table 21.17 and Figure 21.16).189190 These materials would cause severe obscuration problems if used in buildings. A combination of this work, and the concept that a visibility of 4 m is reasonable for people familiar with their environment,191 has led all the U.S. codes to include smoke pass/fail criteria when room-corner tests are used as alternatives to the ASTM E 84 Steiner tunnel test. 

FIGURE 21.16 (See color insert following page 530.) Smoke and heat release in room-corner tests. 

FIGURE 21.16 Smoke and heat release in room-corner tests. 

ISO 9705 Room/Corner Test Method for Surface Products [45]... 

Fig. 30. ISO 9705 room/corner test in progress. Photo Courtesy of Southwest Research Institute 2004.

The Room/Corner Test. The room/comer test is used to evaluate the fire groAvth characteristics of wall and ceifing linings. The walls and/or ceiling of a 2.4 X 3.6 X 2.4 m room are fined with the test materied. A gas burner is placed in one of the rear corners of the room opposite the 0.8 x 2.0 m open doorway in the front wall. Products of combustion are collected in a hood located in front above the door opening and extracted by a high temperature blower through the exhaust duct. The instrumentation in the exhaust duct is similar to that in the cone calorimeter. 

The ICAL apparatus consists of an array of gas heaters, forming a vertical radiant panel with a height of approximately 1.33 m and width of approximately 1.54 m. The test specimen measures 1 x 1 m, and is positioned parallel to the radiant panel. The heat flux to the specimen is preset to a maximum of 60 kW/m by adjusting the distance to the panel. Gas flow to the panel is controlled to maintain the temperature to the panel, and consequently the heat flux to the specimen. The products of pyrolysis from the specimen are ignited with hot wires located close to, but not in contact with, the specimen at its top and bottom. The specimen is placed in a holder that is put on a load cell to measure mass loss during testing. Panel and specimen are positioned beneath the hood of the standard ISO 9705 room/corner test. All products of combustion are collected in the hood and... 

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