An Experimental Study for the Fire Performance of EIFS with a Drencher System

Abstract

The exterior insulation finish system, in which insulation is installed on the outer wall of the building, is widely used due to its ease of construction and the effect of a shorter working period. However, the combustible insulation installed in the external insulation system is vulnerable to fire due to the sudden flame propagation in the event of a fire. For this reason, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport is carrying out support projects to strengthen the fire stability for buildings vulnerable to fire. In this study, the performance of the drencher system was evaluated through a large-scale exterior material experiment in a building equipped with a drench system. When a flammable insulation material was used as EPS, the fire spread to the inside and outer side of EPS after 530 s and 540 s of ignition, respectively, and the results of this experiment did not meet the performance evaluation criteria. When the drencher system was installed under the same conditions as stated above, the fire spread to the outside after 266 s of ignition, and this experiment satisfied the performance evaluation criteria.