McLaggan, M.S. orcid.org/0000-0002-4173-5615, Hidalgo, J.P., Carrascal, J. et al. (3 more authors) (2021) Flammability trends for a comprehensive array of cladding materials. Fire Safety Journal, 120. 103133. ISSN 0379-7112
Abstract
The flammability of materials is a key component of modern cladding fires. Vertical flame spread is a complex phenomenon which is, amongst others, a function of thermal inertia, ignition temperature, and heat release. The recently published Cladding Materials Library contains the needed flammability data to help engineers perform fire risk assessments on buildings. Cladding fire research has previously generally focused on expensive and time consuming full-scale testing, or on the chemical composition, with little regard to the flammability or other performance metrics. This research shows common trends in the ignition and burning behaviour for cladding materials in a systematic bench-scale study using the Cladding Materials Library. The organic content is shown to be a poor indicator of the fire performance, as represented by the heat release rate. A simple and highly conservative model indicates the relative behaviour of a diverse range of cladding materials. This analysis supports competent engineers to select which specific buildings require further investigation based on performance, and to aid development of remediation solutions. The differences within categories of materials, e.g. high-pressure laminates, are large and thus the performance should be tailored for the specific building material. This work complements but does not replace full-scale system testing.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2020 Elsevier. This is an author produced version of a paper subsequently published in Fire Safety Journal. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. Article available under the terms of the CC-BY-NC-ND licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). |
Keywords: | Modeling; Risk assessment; Performance-based design; Flame spread; Fire growth; Ignition; Heat release rate; Hazard evaluation; Facade fires |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Engineering (Sheffield) > Department of Civil and Structural Engineering (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 01 Dec 2021 10:04 |
Last Modified: | 01 Dec 2021 10:04 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Elsevier BV |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1016/j.firesaf.2020.103133 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:181076 |
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Filename: McLaggan et al, 2020. Flammability trends for a comprehensive array of cladding materials.pdf
Licence: CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0