Fire Safety of Façades

• Façade fires do not occur often (in comparison to other major structure fires) but in recent years there have been a number of spectacular façade fires in high rise building such as the recent fire in Grenfell Tower, London.Under-ventilated compartment fires may cause flames to spill out of window openings impinging the façade, thus devastating façade fires may start on one floor leap-frogging to adjacent floors. It is therefore necessary to limit or delay fire spread to higher floors. Requirements built on large scale fire testing may decrease the risk of these types of fires provided that the building is constructed according to the specifications provided by the manufacturer. Different countries have different regulations and tests for façades. New materials and façade systems are continuously introduced which might call for an update of these tests and regulations.This report summarizes experimental and modelling efforts in characterizing the fire safety of façades using the Swedish SP Fire 105 and the British BS 8414 methods. Recent experimental results and modelling is presented exploring the variations in the fire exposure, fire load and the fuel used. The fire source and the heat exposure to the façade are characterized by additional temperatures measured by plate thermometers while some other aspects are only treated in the numerical study such as a change in fuel. It is found that the results from the BS 8414 are largely affected by wind and climate since the experimental test was performed outdoors, moreover fire spread on wooden façades is also briefly discussed.In order to obtain a deeper understanding of the test methods and the results CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) Modelling in FDS was used. The models were based on measured input parameters including uncertainties and an assessment of the impact of said uncertainties. The models could often reproduce the experimentally found temperatures qualitatively and quantitatively. A detailed discussion on the regulations and the tests that lead to the SP Fire 105 test method is also presented. Summaries of the façade testing methods and conditions in other European countries are presented in the appendices.Finally possible ways forward in updating the façade testing and regulations are discussed.

Subject headings

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Samhällsbyggnadsteknik -- Husbyggnad (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Civil Engineering -- Building Technologies (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Façade

Fire

SP Fire 105

BS 8414

ISO 13785

FDS

Publication and Content Type

vet (subject category)

rap (subject category)