A multi-phase study program has been established to develop a rational test procedure for evaluating the fire resistance of residential floor assemblies.The first phase of this research program was aimed at characterizing the severity of fires originating in residential rooms and developing a specified set of fire exposure conditions applicable for fire resistance testing of floor constructions.A total of 16 burnout tests were conducted to investigate the fire behavior in typical residential recreation rooms of single family houses. These fire tests were usually run for one hour and were performed in two instrumented test rooms, 3.3 x 3.3 x 2.4 m and 3.3 x 4.9 x 2.4 m in width, length, and height respectively, furnished with household furniture and lined with interior finish materials typical of actual occupancies. Measurements were made of the temperature, heat flux, static pressure, smoke density, gas velocity, species concentration, and oxygen consumption.The effects of such parameters as the ventilation, fire load density, initial item ignited, room size, and thermal and flammable properties of the wall and ceiling materials on the fire severity were evaluated quantitatively. A fire exposure temperature-time curve which is different from the ASTM E 119 curve, has been developedfor testing the fire resistance of such building structures.

Certain foam rubber materials which are currently used to insulate the interior of submarines are shown to possess a serious fire risk potential. Flame spread tests often do not adequately reflect the fire hazard potential of these materials.It is shown that compartment fire testing is the only satisfactory method of evaluating these kinds of materials at the present time.Fire barrier coatings for protecting these hull insulations are also investigated. Two candidate coatings are found to prevent full fire involvement of an insulated compartment following a moderately large flame exposure and at the same time meet the Navy's elasticity requirement for submarine application.The study includes comparisons of model and prototype compartment fire behavior and demonstrates the practicality of using quarter-scale fire tests for screening compartment finish materials.

This study presents an initial look at the potential for the use of fire growth models. A technique is presented, based upon numerous fire growth predictions to estimate the minimum energy required to produce temperature levels capable of promoting flashover in a variety of room configurations. The parameters investigated included room size, room ventilation, ceiling height and room lining material. A comparison is presented of the predictions made with available full-scale fire test data and with other predictions. The technique, although needing refinement, shows promise to estimate flashover potential.