Citation

Cote AE. Fire Technol. 1983; 19(4): 221-232.

Affiliation

National Fire Protection Association, USA

Copyright

(Copyright © 1983, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/BF02380807

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

A series of full-scale fire tests involving sprinkler installations was conducted in 1979 and 1980 in a two-story residence in Los Angeles, CA, and in a mobile home in Charlotte, NC. Previous laboratory tests, including full-scale room fire tests, had indicated that a prototype "quick-response" sprinkler was effective in controlling residential home fires. More full-scale fire tests under less controlled and more operational conditions were considered necessary to confirm or deny these scientific and engineering judgments. The prime objective of the program was to test the performance of alternative sprinkler designs to "control" the development of fire in single-family dwellings and mobile homes. This paper is the first of three papers reporting on full-scale residential sprinker fire tests conducted under Grant 79027 for the U.S. Fire Administration by the National Fire Protection Association. In this paper, the objectives of the test program are outlined; the test facilities, Prototype sprinkler, water supplies, sprinkler system design, and instrumentation are described; and the scenarios for the total of seventy-six tests conducted are summarized. The second paper (February 1984 issue) will focus on the results of the test and the conclusions drawn from them and the third (May 1984 issue) will cover a study of the comparative activation times of sprinklers and smoke detectors in the mobile home tests.