Facts about insulation and fires 29 October 2014
Not all insulation is the same Real fire case studies involving Insurer approved PIR sandwich panels and insulation boards. Roy Weghorst Head of regulatory affairs - Fire
Agenda Kingspan Foam Insulation? High performance Insulation by Kingspan Reaction to fire tests according European legislation Performance based approach Reaction to fire tests according Insurers schemes Construction site management Real case fire incidents Heining, Amsterdam (By Tenos UK) Pallet storage, Kampen (By Efectis NL)
Kingspan PLC Worldwide leading spirit for high performance Insulation. Present in over 85 countries 59 production facilities worldwide 5000 employees Strong market positions in Europe, the UK, Australia and USA Advanced own technology driving market development Insulated Panels (56%) Insulation (26%) Access Floors (9%) Environmental (9%) Insulated Roof & Wall Panel Systems Building Integrated Solar PV Benchmark Façade Systems Controlled Environments Structural Products Profiles & sections Door Components Insulation Boards for Roofs, Walls & Floors HVAC, Piping & Ductwork Insulation Timber Frame Systems TEK Building Systems (SIPs) Raised Access Floor Systems Underfloor Wire & Cable Management Underfloor Air Distribution Solar Thermal Systems Solar Cooling & Heating Systems Micro Wind turbines Air Source Heat Pumps Hot Water Systems Environmental Rainwater Harvesting Systems Sustainable Drainage Systems Pollution Control Systems Fuel storage systems
Kingspan and Fire safety Share knowledge with key stakeholders Cooperation with well established partners like FM Global and BRE Drive fore best performance on products As placed Large scale testing for ultimate system performance Product development for and with the market Room corner test bij FM Global Test houtskelet wand met PIR volgens EN 1365
Introduction fire performance is not a simple science two most important aspects of fire certification for insulation products are: Reaction to Fire; and Fire Resistance often mistakenly and sometimes deliberately confused and conflated
Foam Insulation? General term but not comparable Misleading tendency to group: Expended Polystyrene EPS Thermo plastic Extruded Polystyrene XPS Thermo plastic Rigid Polyurethane PUR Thermo set Rigid Poly Isocyanurate PIR Thermo set Phenolic PF Thermo set Comparitive tests without detailed information? Al these materials have their own specific characteristics and should not be generalised as Foam Insulation. Eg. PIR and PF char and protect. Not all insulation is the same
Foam Insulation? Innobyg project: Kooltherm expanded 10 mm PUR lost 30% thickness EPS after 10 minutes
High performance Insulation High performance insulation products or cores, which have good fire properties, and excellent environmental profiles which includes New: Optim-R (λ = 0,007 W/m.K) Vacuum insulated panel Kooltherm (λ = 0,019 W/m.K ) Therma PIR boards (λ = 0,022 W/m.K ) IPN sandwichpanels (λ = 0,020 W/m.K ) Euro classification Reaction to fire (EN 13501-1) up to B, S1, D0 Resistance to fire (EN 13501-2) up to EI 30 / EI 60 Nordics SP FIRE 105 Façade test. BS8414 Façade test Insurance Industry Certification FM Global Loss Prevention Certification Board UK
Not all insulation is the same Kingspan own blend high performance insulation Ring-structure creates a thermal stable product which can withstand high temperatures Very slow burn-through and heat transfer to non-fire side Forms strong carbonaceous char that helps protect core insulation No burning droplets; no melting behaviour Very little smoke given off once surface has charred Self-extinguishes when flame is taken away Carbonaceous PIR Charing Kooltherm
Test scheme Reaction to Fire CEN is preparing a test to determine smouldering behaviour!
Single Burning Item EN 13823; Single Burning Item SBI test unit SBI specimens
Single Burning Item EN 13823; Single Burning Item For classes A2, B, C, D Smoke classification; s 1, s 2, s 3 Burning droplets; d 0, d 1, d 2 30 KW burner simulates a wastebasket fire Criteria FIGRA => Fire Growing Rate [W/S] THR => Total Heath Release [MJ] LFS => Lateral Fire Spread SMOGRA => Smoke Growing Rate [m2/s2] Single Burning Item TSP => Total Smoke Production [m2]
THR600 Fire propagation 10,0 Limits B 7,5 PUR panel Mineral fibre panel 50 mm 5,0 Kingspan CS 100 IPN Kooltherm K 15 Black Mineral fibre panel 150 mm 2,5 Koolduct 0,0 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120 FIGRA0.2
Smogra Smoke production 35 30 25 20 PUR panel Kingspan CS 100 IPN 15 10 5 Mineral fibre panel 50 mm Kooltherm K 15 Black Koolduct Mineral fibre panel 150 mm 0 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 TSP
Performance based approach Danish fire regulation is functional based Many ways to show compliance to fire safety eg. Eksempelsamling document EBB No rule just guideline Or another way to document performance could include Evidence based expert judgement Large scale testing like Façade tests Large scale Insurers tests Real case fire evidence
Loss Prevention Certification Board
Comparative - Fire Performance Data EPIC - ARUP Warrington - LPCB- LPS 1181 Fire Tests KINGSPAN LPCB SYSTEM Roof panels after the test Thick char protects core foam from fire attack.
FM Global Major insurer with own test facilities and standards for building cladding systems. FMRC 4880 approval requirements for class 1 fire classification with no height restriction. FM 4450 approval requirements for class 1 fire classification with no height restriction. Approved suppliers are subject to detailed quality surveillance. F M APPROVED
Construction Site Management some insulation manufacturers like to draw attention to the supposed risk associated with combustible insulation products (without differentiation between levels of combustibility) stored on site or exposed during construction e.g. Rockwool video and the fire demo Window of Risk the UKTFA has developed new test methods that identify which construction products can help reduce the risks of fire during construction three categories of risk Kingspan did own risk analysis on Arson as well (ISO 11925-3)
Construction Site Management Categories of Risk Category A Open panel untreated OSB sheathing Solid timber joists untreated 15mm OSB deck Category B Open panel treated Plywood sheathing IWS-Joist treated 18mm plywood deck Category C Open panel treated stud Non-com sheathing IWS-Joist treated 18mm plywood deck
Construction Site Management both Therma and Kooltherm in open panel treated timber frame constructions fall into category B, the same as rock fibre do not compromise the construction's fire performance, even at most vulnerable (i.e. before finishing layers of plasterboard and brickwork applied) construction sites feature building materials and other substances that are much more combustible fires on construction sites are rare, often deliberately started and fuelled by something other than insulation risk of fire more affected by the standard of security, housekeeping and H&S management
Construction Site Management ISO 11925-3 / BS 476-12
Construction Site Management ISO 11925-3 Roofers Torch TR27 TW55 K5
External fires with (predominantly) radiative heat transfer Radiant panel max 2,4 KW output Current radiation on panel is 26 KW/m²
Heining, Netherlands - 2013
Heining, Netherlands - 2013
Heining, Netherlands - 2013
Heining, Netherlands - 2013
Heining, Netherlands - 2013
Heining, Netherlands - 2013 Assume water film spread evenly over wall surface = 0.0143mm/sec applied 23.2kW/m 2 Based on 4.5m wall height the flow time from top of wall to ground = 1 second (approx). In this 1 second the water film absorbs: 23.2-7.0 = 16.2KJ/m 2 Based on specific heat capacity of water: Temp rise = 27ºC
Heining, Netherlands - 2013 15 minute exposure? 17kW/m 2? Charring of PIR core? (yet to be dismantled & inspected)
Troned TC3 16 May 2014
Troned TC3 16 May 2014 PIR = 26.7kW/m 2 24.5kW/m 2 Note that this graph uses a nonscaled x- axis therefore does not show true elapsed time in the experiment
Troned TC3 16 May 2014 10mm charring 40mm heat fissuring kw/m 2 Time (secs)
Asia Express Food Kampen
Asia Express Food Kampen http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rz9knuffmqg
Asia Express Food Kampen
Asia Express Food Kampen
Asia Express Food Kampen To estimate the heat flux on the roof, calculations where made using Shadow 3 cases: 1. Average: Heat flux 75 kw/m², 800 C, flame height 31 m 2. Average-high: Heat flux 100 kw/m², 879 C, flame height 31 m 3. High: Heat flux 75 kw/m², 800 C, flame height 45 m Where 31 meter is the average flame height during the fire and 45 meter has been observed as a maximum flame height in the videos online.
Asia Express Food Kampen
Asia Express Food Kampen
Asia Express Food Conclusion Efectis From tests at Efectis it is known PIR foam does char when heated. Due to this charring the product does not contribute much to the development of a fire When the heat source is removed after a while the foam will self extiguish The fire development on the roof stopped without fire department intervention and as soon as the heat flux from the pallet fire diminshed the fire ceased on its own.
Visit with the Fire Trailer? Fire demo on site? Kingspan PIR PUR
Questions? Email: roy.weghorst@kingspan.com Twitter: @RoyWeghorst LinkedIn: Roy Weghorst