Fire Safety Science Digital Archive

On the assumption that the failure of a structure exposed to a fire, or in a fire resistance test, can be related to the attainment of a certain temperature at some definite point within the structure, it is shown that the failure time is not very sensitive to departures from the standard curve for B.S. 476 and is, within the range of conditions examined, more dependant on the duration of heating than on the temperatures attained. If a structure is just capable of withstanding some specified temperature-time conditions then whilst a more slowly developing but longer fire will lead to failure within the duration of the fire a shorter but more rapidly developing fire may not.