Citation

Capote JA, Alvear D, Abreu O, Lazaro M, Boffill Y, Manzanares A, Maamar M. Fire Technol. 2013; 49(2): 357-378.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2013, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s10694-012-0270-0

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Fire doors are widely used in buildings. These doors act as delimiters or fire enclosures and require specific fire resistance. However, in general, the thermal and mechanical properties of materials change substantially upon exposure to high temperatures. Therefore, in order to optimize the performance of fire doors, we require adequate knowledge about the fire-related behavior of the materials used for making these doors. In this paper, we present an analysis of the thermal behavior of fire doors EI2-60 subjected to standard tests in a furnace. Infrared thermography and traditional techniques of passive measurements involving the use of thermocouples were used in this study. The main physical phenomena occurring in the considered compartmentalized elements when subjected to high temperatures were characterized experimentally. These experiments were carried out on two fire doors that open into and away from the furnace; these are the only two types of configurations used in buildings. Moreover, the thermal behaviors of several component materials of the fire doors were investigated. The use of infrared thermography during a furnace test allowed us to observe the separation evolution between wool and sheet metal, enabling the appearance of convection currents. In this study, we analyzed the different phenomena occurring in a fire door during a furnace test. The temperature-dependent behavior of the unexposed side of the fire door was characterized into three sections. During the furnace test, the separation between the component materials of the door was found to increase; this increase in turn led to an increase in the heat transfer coefficient and simultaneously enabled the appearance of convection currents in this closed space. These phenomena were found to have a direct effect on the temperature-dependent behavior of the unexposed side of the fire door.

Language: en