Content area
Full Text
12
Fire Technology, 49, 357378, 2013 2012 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC. Manufactured in The United States
DOI: 10.1007/s10694-012-0270-0
J. A. Capote, D. Alvear*, O. Abreu, M. Lazaro and Y. Boll, GIDAI Group, University of Cantabria, Ave. Los Castros, s/n, 39005 Santander, Spain
A. Manzanares and M. Maamar, Puertas Metalicas Roper, Ave. La Cerrada,36. Apdo. 41, 39600 Maliano, Cantabria, Spain
Received: 11 November 2011/Accepted: 7 May 2012
Abstract. Fire doors are widely used in buildings. These doors act as delimiters or re enclosures and require specic re 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 re doors, we require adequate knowledge about the re-related behavior of the materials used for making these doors. In this paper, we present an analysis of the thermal behavior of re 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 re doors that open into and away from the furnace; these are the only two types of congurations used in buildings. Moreover, the thermal behaviors of several component materials of the re 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 dierent phenomena occurring in a re door during a furnace test. The temperature-dependent behavior of the unexposed side of the re 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 coecient and simultaneously enabled the appearance of convection currents in this closed space. These phenomena were found to have a direct eect on the temperature-dependent behavior of the unexposed side of the re door.
Keywords: Fire doors, Standard furnace tests, Thermal performance, Infrared thermography, Thermal analysis
* Correspondence should be addressed to: D. Alvear, E-mail: [email protected]