The fire resistance test and its relation to real‐world fires

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Abstract
The characteristics of fire resistance test furnaces are examined. It is shown that the efficiency of a furnace, as measured in terms of the heat load it imposes on a test specimen, depends markedly on the size of the furnace and the nature of the furnace gas. Only with large furnaces heated by gases of high radiation potential (near‐black gases) can the test results be regarded as meaningful and reproducible. Reling a defective furnace with a material of very low thermal inertia, though helpful, is unlikely to bring its performance up to the required level. Methods of determining the efficiency of test furnaces are outlined. The theorem of uniformity heat load is recognized as a succinct descriptor of fires with respect to their destructive potential. As such, it forms the basis for correlating real‐world fires with standard test fires.

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