Abstract
Exposure to flames of a fully developed room fire venting out of an external wall opening after flash-over is most commonly used as the reference fire scenario for assessing the fire performance of external wall cladding systems. This is reflected by various testing standards (e.g. ISO 13785-2 [1], E DIN 4102-20 [2]). The impact of other fire scenarios had been judged as less critical or most similar in the past. Hence, there was a widespread opinion that other scenarios were covered by these fire tests (cf. [3]). This assumption has also underlain assessment of ETICS fire performance.
Highlights
Exposure to flames of a fully developed room fire venting out of an external wall opening after flashover is most commonly used as the reference fire scenario for assessing the fire performance of external wall cladding systems
A couple of serious fires and extensive media coverage of these events triggered an investigation into fire incidents involving external thermal insulation composite systems (ETICS) based on polystyrene which occurred over the last few years
The investigation showed that the fires and their spread over the facade of the building were often caused by fire exposure from outside the building, e.g. burning waste containers
Summary
Exposure to flames of a fully developed room fire venting out of an external wall opening after flashover is most commonly used as the reference fire scenario for assessing the fire performance of external wall cladding systems. This is reflected by various testing standards (e.g. ISO 13785-2 [1], E DIN 410220 [2]). There was a widespread opinion that other scenarios were covered by these fire tests (cf [3]) This assumption has underlain assessment of ETICS fire performance. In spring 2013 was there an fire scenario had been introduced in the discussion on fire performance assessment of external wall cladding systems in Germany – the exposure to fires outside near the base of the building (e.g. waste containers, small cars etc.), and this just for ETICS based on polystyrene insulation material
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