Fire Safety Science Digital Archive

The full scale fire resistance test forms the basis of acceptance of structural integrity in fire. However, such tests are expensive and provide only limited test data of parametric significance required for research purposes. In this paper a methodology for the fire testing of reduced scale structural models is presented for discussion. The principles of scale modeling applied to both structural testing and thermal modeling are detailed. This requires the imposition of a double incident heat flux and quarter time scale rule creating a new fire curve for a half scale model test. The increased flux requirement is accommodated by an enhanced temperature axis by consideration of convective and radiative surface heat transfer processes. An alternative suggestion to control model test furnaces by heat flux instrumentation is postulated. Finally, experiences with the application of the methodology to studies on steel and concrete columns, brickwork compartment walls and reinforced concrete floor slabs in standard fire tests are presented.