BS 476-32:1989

Foreword
Committees responsible
Guide
1 Scope
2 General
3 Definitions
4 Design and configuration
5 Specimens
6 Ignition sources
7 Monitoring
8 Safety precautions
9 Data recording
10 Test report
Appendix
A Fire test facilities
Figure
1 Fire test facilities

Test rig design, specimens, ignition sources, data monitoring and recording.

This Part of BS 476 provides comprehensive recommendations on the conduct of full scale experiments simulating fires in buildings. Such tests, of varying scale and configuration, can be used to evaluate the behaviour of building components, assemblies or constructions and/or contents under actual fire conditions. The advice on experimental design and instrumentation and the analysis and reporting of results provides a basis for a consumer/contractor agreement for the execution of ad hoc work.

The guide may be used to establish, as far as is reasonably possible, laboratory conditions that represent a specific set of fire conditions, with an emphasis on examination of the pre-flashover behaviour and contribution to fire growth of the product(s) under consideration.

The choice of ignition source and test construction is based on the objective of the fire experiment which may be:

1. a comparison of the fire performance of different materials;
2. a comparison of theory and experiment;
3. a simulation experiment;
4. a measurement of the fire behaviour of composites, assemblies and finished products;
5. an investigation of the interaction of components within the system;
6. an authentication of fire properties measured in small scale tests.