Development of a test procedure for sandwich panels using ISO 9705 philosophy (NT TR 480)

Abstract

  Assessment of the fire behaviour of sandwich panels often requires large scale testing. The fire behaviour of these panels is a combination of material characteristics such as the core material and mechanical behaviour of the panels such as joints, dilations etc. Thus, the use of small or intermediate scale test can be questioned for such type of products. Testing in full-scale is often the most appropriate solution. Even in large scale tests, however, conditions and mounting practice should be considered carefully. This project has aimed to develop a full-scale test procedure which fully allows the end-use mounting of the panels but retains the philosophy of the room corner test scenario as given in NT FIRE 025 and ISO 9705. The results of this project show that it is possible to use a so called “free-standing set-up” of the room structure and to measure HRR and SPR. This set-up is more severe than the mounting inside an ISO 9705 room as new effects, such as dilation and joint finishing, appear Which should be considered when using such a set-up. Within this project a limited amount of SBI tests were performed which indicate that the SBI test method does not fully reflect the behaviour of sandwich panels in full and real scale and that more research is needed.