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The test setups run at the BRE consisted of a simulated furniture fire and a kitchen fire. All fires were run
in either a 4 m x 4 m x 2.5 m room or a larger 8 m x 4 m x 2.5 m room with doors open or closed. The door
openings were 1m wide and 2.1 m high. The tests by BRE measured the gas concentrations to determine
FED Asphyxia at a position 3 m away from the fire and at heights of 0.6 m and of 1.8 m. Temperatures were
measured at a position 2 m away from the fire and at heights of 0.6 m and of 1.8 m.
Furniture Test Setup
The furniture fire used the same configuration of fuel load and room layout as in the proposed watermist
draft standard (DD 8458-1), the traditional sprinkler standards (EN 12845 2004 and BS 9251:2005) and
the Scandinavian SRSA/DSB standard. This is the industry’s well established fire test setup originated by
the International Maritime Organisation (IMO). Below is a detail of the furniture test layout.
The setup consists of two polyurethane foam sheets and a wood crib placed above a fuel tray containing
water and heptane and positioned in the corner of the test room. Four marine grade untreated plywood
panels, each measuring 1.2 m x 2.4 m in size and 12 mm thick forms the walls in the corner of the test room.
The foam sheets consist of two 100 mm thick pieces of polyurethane foam with a density of approximately
18 kg/m
3
. The sheets are 810 mm wide, 760 mm high and were glued onto a 4 mm thick board of untreated
plywood using contact adhesive. The distance from the edge of the board to the foam is 30 mm at the
bottom edge and 15 mm along the edge of each side. The sheets of plywood were 840 mm wide and 790 mm
high and are securely bolted to a supporting structure which holds them in an upright position.
Kitchen Test Setup
The simulated kitchen fire setup represents a simple kitchen arrangement made of ‘standard’ materials
commonly found in domestic kitchens. The cupboards consist of laminated chipboard panels and the
worktop is made of solid wood. The empty kitchen units are 1800 mm wide and divided into three sections
of 600 mm each. The upper cupboards were 700 mm high and 300 mm deep. The lower cupboards are 700
mm high and 600 mm deep. No shelves are installed in any of the cupboards. The worktop is 880 mm
above the floor. The distance between the worktop and the underside of the upper cupboards is 580 mm.
The kitchen fitted is typical of standard styles available at leading furniture outlets.
