Performance of Special Extinguishment Agents for ... - UL.com

Issued: September 30, 2008
8. TASK 5 – DESIGN FIRE SCENARIO - FREEBURN
TESTING OF LIVING ROOM SPACE
8.1 GENERAL
UL designed and constructed a simulated fire setting to represent living areas that included a
nominal 14x14x 8ft. height living area with open doorways at each end of the room to provide
natural ventilation. A nominal 6ft. wide x 14ft. long hallway was constructed adjacent to the
living area and connected with one of the two living area doorways. The living area setting was
furnished with upholstered furniture, wood tables, plastic toys, lighting, wall painting and other
typical furnishings. The fire scenario was allowed to progress past flashover conditions.
Tests were conducted to characterize the structural fire heat release and fire growth.
Instrumentation monitored temperatures and heat release rate and identified when fire control
had occurred. Temperatures and smoke were monitored at the doorway and hallway opening to
examine the ambient conditions that would be experienced by the firefighter.
8.2 TEST FACILITY
The fire tests were conducted at Underwriters Laboratories large-scale fire test facility located in
Northbrook, Illinois.
8.2.1 Large-Scale Fire Test Building
The large-scale fire test building used for this investigation houses four fire test areas that are
used to develop data on the fire growth and fire suppression characteristics of commodities, as
well as the fire suppression characteristics of automatic water sprinkler systems. A schematic of
the test facility is shown in Figure 16.
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