Fire development and wall endurance in sandwich and wood-frame structures

Abstract

Large-scale fire tests were conducted on seven 16- by 24-foot structures. Four of these structures were of sandwich construction with cores of plastic or paper honeycomb and three were of wood-frame construction. The wasss were loaded to a computer design loading, and the fire endurance determined under a fire exposure from a typical building contents loading of 4-1/2 lb/ft2 floor area. The results in the large-scale tests generally agreed with results of laboratory ASTM E 119 tests on the same wall constructions if the slower fire buildup time in the large-scale tests is considered. Thermal barrier protection (gypsum board) on the interior walls of the plywood sandwich construction provided the improved performance needed. The large-scale tests also showed a critical temperature associated with flashover under the fire conditions employed.

Citation

Holmes, Carlton A.; Eickner, Herbert W.; Brenden, John J.; Peters, Curtis C.; White, Robert H. 1980. Fire development and wall endurance in sandwich and wood-frame structures. Res. Pap. FPL-364. Madison, WI: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Forest Products Laboratory, 1980: 24 pages