Fire and Explosion lnvestigation and Litigation Support

Transcription

1 Chilworth Fire and Explosion Investigation and Litigation Support Fire and Explosion lnvestigation and Litigation Support Fires Involving Solids, Liquids, andlor Gases Chemical Reactions Flammability of Materials Explosions Involving Dust, Vapor andlor Gas Atmospheres Electrostatic Discharges Spontaneous Combustion & Thermal Instability Transport and Storage of Dangerous Goods

2 Fire and Explosion Investigation and Litigation Support lnvestiaation Testing Undersfanding The Problem Understanding the Problem Our litigious environment demands that every "good faith" investigation utilize scientifically acceptable practices capable of withstanding the highest scrutiny. Chilworth Technology, Inc. not only provides the scientific knowledge, but also the laboratory services to quantify conclusions based on science. Every fire and explosion incident requires a thorough investigation and documentation of the scene. Equally important is a careful analysis of the evidence that will form the basis of critical decisions and possible litigation. Every opinion formed regarding the origin, cause and responsibility of a fire and explosion will be challenged based on the quality of the data collected. Successful investigations utilize science and technology to validate information and evidence collected by investigators. Our seasoned staff is prepared to assist you in extracting valuable information from an incident scene andlor provide consultation services at any point in the investigative process. Our conclusions are based on our knowledge of chemistry, physics, combustion science, and our experience in incident investigations and industrial processes. What Should You Do Recognizing the appropriate resources that should be committed to properly investigate the facts and circumstances of a fire or explosion incident is the first critical decision. Organizing a team of professionals possessing the skills and knowledge necessary to identify, document, collect and quantify the facts and circumstances of the event will often determine its success or failure. Determining the origin, cause and responsibility for an incident is critical however not the only function of the investigation. A proper examination and scientific elimination of any other reasonable alternative cause or event is equally important. Experience, technology and science should be a prominent component of every investigative effort. Chilworth Technology, Inc. is prepared to provide the highest standard of care from the incident scene through courtroom presentation. How Can We Help Chilworth Technology, Inc. is a leader in providing science-based approaches and solutions to aid in complex fire and explosion investigations. Our highly skilled and respected staff of scientists and engineers will provide their experience, scientific knowledge and laboratory capabilities to bring your investigation to a proven conclusion. We are prepared to respond to an incident scene and work with your team to provide a complete and thorough scientific analysis upon which informed decisions can be made. We also provide process safety services to industry to help prevent fires and explosions in the workplace. Chilworth Technology, Inc. has a fully equipped laboratory that further enhances our ability to provide scientific testing, research capabilities and independent consultation on fire and explosion incidents.

3 Dust Explosion Flammability Testing - Dust cloud flammability analysis (Group AIB classification) - lgnition sensitivity determination (including minimum ignition energy and minimum ignition temperature) - lgnition severity determination (20 L sphere, for Pmax and Kst) - Flammability limits determination (limiting oxygen for combustion and minimum explosible concentration) - Particle sizing ( using laser diffraction or conventional mechanical sieve methods) Gas and Vapor Flammability.Testing - lgnition sensitivity analysis (including autoignition temperature, minimum ignition energy, minimum igniting current, maximum experimental safe gap) - Explosion severity (dpldtmax, Kg and Pmax determination) at ambient and elevated temperatures and pressures - Flammable limits determination (flash point, fire point, combustibility testing, flammable range at ambient and elevated temperatures and pressures) Fire Properties Testing - Flammability of solids (burning rate) determination - Burning behavior determination - Oxidizing properties of liquids and solids Thermal Stability Testing - Layer ignition temperature determination - UN standard thermal stability tests (for UN Classes 4.1 and 4.2) Thermal stability testing under enclosed conditions (DSC, Carius tube, ARC, Dewar) - Thermal stability under aerated conditions (Diffusion cell, Aerated cell, Air Over Layer, Basket tests) Electrostatic Properties Testing Resistivitylconductivity (of powders, liquids and surfaces) Charge relaxation time determination (for powders and surfaces) - Complete electrostatic testing of FIBC's We have specialist facilities (on-site) for controlled humidity testing, testing of potential explosives in experimental blast chambers and for testing toxic or highly active substances. Testing can be performed according to internationally recognized standards such as ASTM, DOT, UN, or ISO. Chilworth Technology, Inc. guarantees that the quality, reliability and traceability of our service will be second to none. Few other service providers in this field offer this level of quality assurance, if any. The Chilworth approach is to provide the most cost-effective and complete service which is tailored to your specific incident. We provide unrivalled customer support. Whether your project involves testing or consultancy, you are guaranteed personal scientific and technical support which will ensure that you gain maximum benefit from our services. Chilworth l ecnnology Fire and Explosion Testing Hot Plate Apparatus Our experts can provide independent professional advice on a wide range of Fire and Explosion related matters including: - Fires involving Solids, Liquids andlor Gases - Spontaneous Combustion and Thermal Instability Chemical Reactions - Electrostatic Discharges - Flammability of Materials Transport and Storage of Dangerous Goods Explosions involving Dust, Vapor andlor Gas Atmospheres

4 Fire and Explosion Investigation and Litigation Support THE BENEFITS -- From Chilworth you obtain:- Impartial, professional and confidential consultancy advice. Access to laboratories which can safely test highly energetic and toxic material. Expert guidance on the selection of tests and interpretation, of results. Chilworth Technology Expert Testimony The availability of experienced doctorate & graduate engineers & scientists to assist with the application of data and hazard assessment. Fast and reliable data. The confidence of knowing that data comes from compliant laboratories. Testing Training L CONTACT Chilworth Technology, Inc. 11 Deer Park Drive Monmouth Junction, NJ Tel: (732) Fax: (732) safety@chilworth.com Web: CHILWORTH SERVICES Y Immediate response to fire and explosion scenes. Scientific Quantification of Opinions Generate and interpret test data Provide second opinions Conduct extensive literature and laboratory testing research Expert testimony Conduct specialized training UK: Chilworth Technology Lld., England Tel: +44 (0) Italy: Chilworth Vassallo Srl, Valmadrera Td: +39 (0) hf@chihorth.it Web: Web: India: Chilworth Safely & Risk Management (Pvt) Ltd, Mumbai Tel: +91 (0) /70/71 Web: w.chiiworlh.co.in

5 Technical Bulletin - No. 1 Mattress Testing According to 16 CFR 1633 Open-Flame Standard Chilworth Pacific Fire Laboratories, Inc B Talley Way Kelso, WA Tel: Fax: Fire@Chilworthpacific.com Chilworth Pacific Fire Laboratories, Inc. located in Kelso, WA has extensive laboratory facilities and expertise for the testing of mattresses according to the new Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) approved openflame standard recently published as 16 CFR The standard is modeled on the TB 603 standard that was adopted in California in This new standard establishes performance requirements based on research conducted by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Mattresses and mattress and foundation sets that comply with the requirements will generate a smaller size fire with a slower growth rate, thus reducing the possibility of flashover occurring. These improved mattresses should result in significant reductions in deaths and injuries associated with the risk of mattress fires. Applicability The new 16 CFR 1633 standard will apply to all mattresses sold in the United States that are manufactured in the United States or imported into the United States on - or after - July1, Test Method The test method is a full-scale test based on NIST research. The mattress specimen (a mattress alone or mattress and foundation set) is exposed to a pair of T-shaped propane burners and allowed to burn freely for a period of 30 minutes. The burners are designed to simulate burning bedclothes. The burners impose a specified heat flux simultaneously to the top and side of the mattress set for a specified period of time (70 seconds for the top burner and 50 seconds for the side burner). Measurements are taken of the heat release rate from the specimen and energy generated from the fire. The standard establishes two test criteria, both of which the mattress set must meet in order to comply with the standard: 1. The peak heat release rate for the mattress set must not exceed 200 kw at any time during the 30 minute test, and 2. The total heat released must not exceed 15 MJ for the first 10 minutes of the test. The standard requires, with certain exceptions, that mattress manufacturers have three specimens of each prototype tested before introducing a mattress or mattress set into commerce. Mattress sets produced based on the prototype mattress must be the same as the prototype with respect to materials, components, design, and method of assembly. We recommend that the mattress manufacturers study the new standard carefully in preparation for prototype development and testing and/or contact us for further information. Chilworth Pacific staff has over 20 years of heat release and mattress testing experience and is totally familiar with the mattress test method(s) at the California Bureau of Home Furnishings laboratory. Our large calorimeter can accommodate mattresses of all sizes. It can also handle large furnishing fires, which might be of interest in the period of the prototype development testing/studies.

6 Chilworth Pacific Fire Laboratories Our state-of-the-art fire testing laboratories provide almost all fire parameters that might be required for the evaluation of a product or fire simulation. These include: Standard Testing Furniture Fire Tests Standard Method 16 CFR 1632 ASTM E 1352 ASTM E 1353 ASTM E 1537 ASTM E 1590 ASTM E 1822 CAL 129 CAL 133 Intermediate-Scale Test (ICAL) Description Flammability of Mattresses & Mattress Pads Cigarette Ignition Resistance of Mock-Up Upholstered Furniture Assemblies Cigarette Ignition Resistance of Components of Upholstered Furniture Fire Testing of Upholstered Furniture Fire Testing of Mattresses Test Method for Fire Testing of Stacked Chairs Flammability Test Procedure for Mattresses for use in Public Buildings Flammability Test Procedure for Seating Furniture for Use in Public Occupancies Intermediate-Scale Calorimeter (ICAL) ASTM E1623 Fire and Thermal Parameters of Materials, products, and systems using an Intermediate-Scale Calorimeter (ICAL) Room Fire Tests Standard Method ISO 9705 ASTM E 2257 UBC 26-3 UBC 8-2 NFPA 286 Description Room Corner Test Test Method for Room Fire Test of Wall and Ceiling Materials and Assemblies Room Fire Test Standard for Interior of Foam Plastic Systems Standard Test Method for Evaluating Room Fire Growth Contribution of Textile Wall Covering Standard Test Method for Evaluating Contribution of Wall and Ceiling Interior Finish to Room Fire Growth Mannequin Burn Tests of Clothing For additional information on our mattress testing facilities according to the new 16 CFR 1633 standard or our other fire testing, modeling, and consulting services please contact Dr. Joe Urbas, Technical Director on , jurbas@chilworthpacific.com.

7 Technical Bulletin - No. 2 Furniture Fire Testing Services Chilworth Pacific Fire Laboratories, Inc B Talley Way Kelso, WA Tel: Fax: http: fire@chilworthpacific.com Chilworth Pacific Fire Laboratories, Inc. located in Kelso, WA has extensive laboratory facilities and expertise for the testing of furniture according to California Technical Bulletin, NFPA, and federal standards. Our furniture testing capabilities include:. NFPA Standard Methods of Tests and Classification System for Cigarette Ignition Resistance of Components of Upholstered Furniture Applicability - Tests specified by NFPA 260 are intended to measure the performance of upholstered furniture components under conditions of exposure to a smoldering cigarette. This standard is intended to assist in component selection and composite design for upholstered furniture in order to achieve a high level of resistance to cigarette ignition. These tests shall apply to cover fabrics, interior fabrics, welt cords, decking materials, barrier materials, and filling/padding materials including, but not limited to, battings of natural or man-made fibers, foamed or cellular filling materials, resilient pads of natural or man-made fibers, and loose particulate filling materials such as shredded polyurethane or feathers and down. Test Methods! Cover Fabric Test - Applicable to all outer cover fabrics! Interior Fabric Test - Applicable to all interior fabrics used in intimate contact with outer fabrics! Welt Cord Test - Applicable to all welt cord! Filling/padding Component Test - Applicable to all material used under the cover fabric in seats or within inside vertical walls (inside arms and inside backs)! Decking Materials Test - Applicable to any material used in the deck under loose cushions! Barrier Materials Test - Applicable to any material intended to serve as a barrier between Class II cover fabrics and conventional polyurethane foam in a seat The tests are performed on two small-scale testers: the mini-mock-up tester and the decking materials tester. NFPA Standard Method of Test for Determining Resistance of Mock-Up Upholstered Furniture Material Assemblies to Ignition by Smoldering Cigarettes Applicability - This method is intended to measure the performance of upholstered furniture under conditions of exposure to a smoldering cigarette, which shall be accomplished by testing furniture mock-ups.

8 Test Methods - The test shall use lighted cigarettes covered with a piece of sheeting material to determine the ignition resistance of upholstered furniture items reproduced in mock-up. Locations to be tested shall include the following:! Horizontal crevices formed where seat cushions and vertical test panels meet! Seat cushion surfaces including smooth surface, quilt, tuft, and welt edges! Top surfaces of armrests, back, and loose seat support systems CALIFORNIA TECHNICAL BULLETIN Requirements, Test Procedure, and Apparatus for Testing the Flame Retardance of Upholstered Furniture California Technical Bulletin 116 is basically a cigarette test for full-scale pieces of upholstered furniture, which are manufactured for residential use in the state of California. California Technical Bulletin 116 is used adjunct with California Technical Bulletin 117. CALIFORNIA TECHNICAL BULLETIN Requirements, Test Procedures, and Apparatus for Testing the Flame Retardance of Resilient Filling Materials Used in Upholstered Furniture Applicability - California Technical Bulletin 117, a mandatory standard, is both an open flame test and a smoldering cigarette test for the component materials used to make residential upholstered furniture, which is to be sold in the state of California. Test Method - In this test, each upholstery component except the covering fabric is time exposed to either an open flame or a smoldering cigarette in a defined test chamber, and the propagation of the open flame or the cigarette char length is measured to a specific specification criteria contained in Technical Bulletin 117. All upholstered furniture components except frames must comply with this test procedure and criteria. CALIFORNIA TECHNICAL BULLETIN Flammability Test Procedure for Seating Furniture for Use in Public Occupancies Applicability - California Technical Bulletin 133 (TB 133) is an open flame test, mandatory for furniture sold for public occupancies in the state of California. It should be noted that several other states have adopted TB 133 for the same occupancies in their states. Test Method - In the TB 133 test protocol, a full-scale piece of furniture or a mock up is placed in a specially designed room where the furniture or mock up is exposed to an approximate 16 kw open flame for eighty seconds. The temperatures at the 4-foot level and at the ceiling are monitored constantly. The mass loss of the test furniture, the carbon monoxide concentration in the test room, and the smoke opacity in the room are monitored continuously. TB 133 lists criteria for each function measured. Another way to test for passing TB 133 is the use of oxygen consumption (depletion) calorimetry. In oxygen consumption calorimetry, the oxygen consumed by the burning furniture is monitored continuously, and the peak heat release and total heat release are calculated from the amount of oxygen consumed by the burning furniture. There are specific criteria for peak heat release and total heat release. It should be noted here that the TB 133 test for upholstered furniture was designed specifically for upholstered furniture used in public occupancies, and this test is definitely not applicable to upholstered furniture used in residential occupancies. For additional information on our Furniture fire testing or other fire testing, modeling, and consulting services please contact Dr. Joe Urbas, Technical Director on , Jurbas@chilworthpacific.com.

9 Technical Bulletin - No Significance of Fire Re-creation for Litigation Support Purposes Chilworth Pacific Fire Laboratories, Inc B Talley Way Kelso, WA Tel: Fax: http: fire@chilworthpacific.com Fire re-creation is essential in verifying a fire cause and origin hypothesis in a litigation process. Fire investigators, in following the NFPA 921 guidelines, and the Daubert admissibility rules related to expert testimony, need to verify their conclusions and assumptions about a fire s initiation and growth by using the scientific method with relevant engineering principles and research. Fire re-creation testing and modeling, or a combination of the two, have been proven to comply with the above mentioned requirements, and adequately support the investigation process in complex fires. Fire Re-Creation Testing Due to the complexity of some fires and the current stage of development of fire science, in some cases there are no other ways to confirm that a fire could have initiated and grown as hypothesized than experimental fire re-recreation. An important additional benefit of a fire recreation test is the visual recording of the test that is very effective in presenting fire investigation findings to a jury. Fire re-creation testing is most widely used in studying and re-creating an ignition scenario, fire spread from one item to another and the flashover phenomena. Ignitions resulting from a variety of electrical faults, self-heating, open flame ignition sources, and many others are frequently recreated experimentally to verify a hypothesis. Less frequently utilized, but very useful recreation tests are those that are conducted on accurately reproduced full-scale or sectional fullscale room or vehicle mockups. In addition, ignition, fire spread and flashover can be demonstrated. These tests are conducted in a laboratory that utilizes measurements of heat release rate and parameters such as fluxes, smoke density, and toxic gases. The results of the measurements can be used independently and/or as input to computational fire models. Since the size of a mockup that is practical to test in a laboratory does not exceed a single room or a few small rooms, it is useful to use a model to re-create a fire of an entire building. A simple example of a fire re-creation test could involve the ignition of a coffeemaker due to an electrical fault, to confirm that the coffeemaker initiated fire can spread to a nearby wood-lined wall and the rest of the room. This would confirm that fire spread from the coffeemaker to the wall is possible. Also, the fire patterns of the laboratory fire (extinguished at the same time as the actual fire), can be compared to those of the actual fire to confirm the coffeemaker ignition hypothesis. This fire scenario can not be proven by a model or calculations. The reason is that

10 the fire spreading mechanism from the coffeemaker to the wall involves melting and leaning of the burning coffeemaker. The leaning and melting might be affected by small details such as arrangement of coffee grounds in the filter. Standard small, intermediate, and large-scale fire test methods can be useful in studying a fire for re-creation purposes. The test methods that may be useful are those that provide material properties or data in engineering units. The information from these tests and the characterization of material fire properties can be useful in the design of large-scale mockups or as input to computational fire models. However, the results of standard fire tests need to be used with caution since they are usually not directly transferable to full-scale. Standard test methods that provide pass/fail or classification results have very limited value in fire re-creation. Fire Modeling Fire modeling can frequently be used when a fire needs to be re-created for the purpose of advancing a hypothesis to a quantitative understanding of the fire. Various types of computer fire models can be used for the re-creation of fires. This includes computational fluid dynamics and zone room models, structural fire resistance models, and evacuation models. However, for litigation related purposes, the models that can calculate various parameters that quantify room and building fires (local temperatures, smoke density, and toxic gas concentrations) are the most frequently used. Fire models have been used for more than two decades. Over this period they have been advanced to the degree that they can now be accepted in court. Their main disadvantage, in general, is that they can not re-create ignition scenarios and, for fire re-creation purposes, they are often inadequate in reproducing fire growth on one or more burning items. This involves the calculation of heat release rate and flame spread. Therefore, in fire re-creation the models are typically used in combination with testing. Although modern fire engineering techniques are highly advanced, very often it is still fire testing that is needed in the fire litigation setting to prove or disprove and demonstrate the hypothesis and conclusions of a fire investigator, scientist or expert. CHILWORTH PACIFIC FIRE LABORATORIES, INC. Chilworth Pacific Fire Laboratories provide high quality fire litigation support consulting, fire simulation testing, and fire research studies. The laboratory staff has been involved in numerous high profile litigation cases, has served on national and international standards committees, and has taught university courses in fire protection engineering. Chilworth Pacific Laboratories services include: Fire Litigation Support Standard Fire Testing ICAL Construction Fire Research Mattress Testing Product Development Fire Engineering Furniture Testing Fire Testing Apparatus Fire Modelling Apparel Testing Design Consulting Ad-Hoc Testing For additional information on our fire re-creation testing or other fire testing, modeling, and consulting services please contact Ken Fuglee, Senior Fire Research Engineer at , fire@chilworthpacific.com.