INNOVATIVE APPROACH TO THE EXPERIMENTAL REPRODUCTION OF NOMINAL AND ALTERNATIVE FIRE REGIMES

Abstract

Introduction. Th e prevention of the destruction of buildings and structures during a fi re is ensured through strict compliance with requirements for the necessary fi re resistance rating and classifi cation. To guaran-tee reliable and safe operation during the design and construction stages, building materials and struc-tures classifi ed according to their reaction to fi re and assessed by fi re resistance class have been required.Problem Statement. Since modern testing installations (furnaces) predominantly reproduce only the temperature regime of a standard fi re, while other heating regimes remain diffi cult or impossible to simulate, the development and application of specialized testing installations and chambers capable of experimentally providing the required temperature exposures are highly relevant.Purpose. Th e purpose of this study is to investigate the possibility of experimentally reproducing the tem-perature eff ects of nominal and alternative fi re regimes using an innovative experimental installation.Materials and Methods. Th e study has been conducted using an installation equipped with a 500 × × 500 × 500 mm chamber designed to assess the fi re-protective effi ciency of coatings. Th e test specimens consist of 500 × 500 mm steel plates with fi re-protective coatings. External fi re, slow-heating fi re, and parametric fi re regimes have been modeled by regulating the power of the heating elements and adjus-ting the distance between the heating elements and the specimen. Th e parametric temperature curve for a 60 m² fi re compartment has been calculated using the FIN EC soft ware package. Results. Experimental tests have confi rmed the eff ectiveness of reproducing nominal and alternative fi re regimes using the developed installation. Th e design features and technical solutions have provided cont rolled regulation of chamber heating and cooling, ensuring that deviations of the temperature–time curves remain within permissible limits accor-ding to DSTU EN 1363-1:2023 and DSTU EN 1363-2:2023.Conclusions. Th e stable operation of the electric heating elements has ensured eff ective reproduction of thermal regimes with deviations of less than 10% from standard fi re curves. Th e developed installation has demonstrated its applicability for assessing the fi re resistance of structures, determining the eff ectiveness of fi re-protective coatings, and developing experimental and theoretical methods for studying the thermophysical properties of materials under nomi-nal and alternative (realistic) fi re regimes