Normalized heat load: A key parameter in fire safety design

Harmathy, T. Z.; Mehaffey, J. R.

doi:10.1002/fam.810060108

Cited by 27 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…Notwithstanding improvements that have been realised through the introduction of plate thermometers for controlling fire testing furnaces (in many jurisdictions), this still partly neglects the complex thermal interactions between the gases, linings, and specimen [11,53,60,61]. The research presented in the current paper aims to address some of these shortcomings and to develop a complimentary fire testing method that directly controls incident radiant heat flux at the exposed surface of a test specimen.…”

Section: Control By Temperaturementioning

confidence: 96%

“…Thus, while furnace lining materials, dimensions, temperature gauges, and specific burner types are now reasonably standardized and regulated (e.g. [29]), the thermal boundary conditions at the exposed surfaces of test specimens are inevitably linked to the thermal properties of the test specimen itself; making the comparative usefulness of tests controlled in this manner questionable for materials with different thermal properties [53]. Likewise, adoption of the plate thermometer as the standard gauge for temperature control within testing furnaces [29,46] is also governed by energy conservation inside a furnace; hence precluding the notion that using a specific type of temperature gauge can fully harmonise the thermal boundary conditions imposed when controlling by a temperature [54,55].…”

Section: Control By Temperaturementioning

confidence: 99%

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A Heat-Transfer Rate Inducing System (H-TRIS) Test Method

Maluk

Bisby

Krajcovic

et al. 2019

Fire Safety Journal

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a b s t r a c t A novel fire testing method, named the Heat-Transfer Rate Inducing System (H-TRIS), is presented and described in this paper. The method directly controls the thermal boundary conditions imposed on a test specimen by controlling a specified time-history of incident radiant heat flux at its exposed surface. Accounting for the absorptivity and thermal losses at the exposed surface of the test specimen, H-TRIS can be programmed to control the net heat flux at the exposed surface; thus controlling the in-depth time dependent temperature distributions within the test specimen. H-TRIS can be used for imposing a wide range of time-histories of incident radiant heat flux (e.g. constant, linear, stepped), or in-depth time dependent temperature distributions (i.e. specified thermal gradients). Notably, this enables simulation of thermal boundary conditions experienced by materials or structures exposed to any source of heatduring a conventional fire test (e.g. standard furnace test), a large-scale fire test, a real fire, or some other thermal boundary conditions calculated using a fire model (e.g. zone or computational fluid dynamics model). H-TRIS enables complementary experimental studies with excellent repeatability at comparatively low economic and temporal costs relative to traditional furnace test methods, thus permitting multiple repeat tests and statistical studies of response to heating. Application of H-TRIS within a research project studying heat-induced concrete spalling is briefly presented and discussed, to illustrate the significance and novelty of the new fire testing method.

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Section: Control By Temperaturementioning

confidence: 96%

Section: Control By Temperaturementioning

confidence: 99%

A Heat-Transfer Rate Inducing System (H-TRIS) Test Method

Maluk

Bisby

Krajcovic

et al. 2019

Fire Safety Journal

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…15 The consistency of the limiting curve with the others, derived by a very different procedure, is supporting evidence of their validity.…”

Section: Jck(t)w(t)i (3)mentioning

confidence: 66%

Effective thermal inertia in relation to normalized heat load

Williams-Leir

1984

Fire and Materials

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Normalized heart load, obtained by dividing heat absorption by thermal inertia, is a quantity useful in building design for relating fire severity in fully developed compartment fires to fire severity in standard fire resistance tests. Harmathy has shown how normalized heat load may be used for determining required fire resistance in projected buildings. The present work describes how effective values of thermal inertia can be calculated for such important materials as brick and concrete, both normal and lightweight, for which thermal properties depend strongly upon temperature.

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“…However, as discussed previously, burn-out fires are often related to the standard fire using equal area the concept of 'fire severity' [38]. This idea has no physical basis and was criticized by Harmathy and Mehaffey [39] as far back as 1982, yet has still become embedded into the common approach to structural fire engineering [7].…”

Section: Limitations Of Parametric Firesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Structural Engineering and Fire Dynamics: Advances at the Interface

Law¹,

Stern-Gottfried

Gillie³

et al. 2011

Fire Safety Science - Proceedings of the 10th International Sym

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In 2008, Buchanan identified a necessary prerequisite for the advancement of structural fire engineering. He stated that "fire engineers and structural engineers need to talk to each other". In an attempt to address this need, the following paper provides a historical context of structural fire engineering and presents the results of research conducted when fire engineers and structural fire engineers do, indeed, talk to one another and work together on the same problem. The fire engineering approach is that developed by SternGottfried and Rein using travelling fires to capture realistic fire dynamics in a large compartment, and the structural fire approach by Law and Gillie on the whole frame behaviour of a concrete building. These techniques are not the only approaches, nor are they the ultimate product of Buchanan's challenge. However, they show how a rational approach to both fire engineering and structural engineering can provide design tools that would be meaningless or impossible otherwise.

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Normalized heat load: A key parameter in fire safety design

Cited by 27 publications

References 3 publications

A Heat-Transfer Rate Inducing System (H-TRIS) Test Method

A Heat-Transfer Rate Inducing System (H-TRIS) Test Method

Effective thermal inertia in relation to normalized heat load

Structural Engineering and Fire Dynamics: Advances at the Interface

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