Fire and Heat Resistance of Curtain Materials with Down-Flowing Water Film

Abstract

To ensure safety in public buildings effective methods for suppressing the spread of fire are required This study examines the feasibility of using a curtain with a down-flowing water film to achieve this requirement Three types of curtain are considered namely a commercial fireproof curtain a simple towel curtain and vertical blinds For all curtains small-scale fire resistance tests are performed at a temperature of 900 °C In the tests the fire resistance of the commercial curtain is investigated both with and without a down-flowing water film By contrast for the towel and vertical blinds the tests are performed only with a water film since otherwise the towel and vertical blinds would immediately combust The results show that for the fireproof curtain without a water film the temperature on the unexposed surface reaches 693 °C in less than 30 minutes However when the water film is applied the temperature on the unexposed surface remains below 60 °C for more than 60 minutes In other words the curtain satisfies the CNS 14803 standard Significantly the same result is obtained when using the simple towel curtain Thus the use of a simple towel curtain with a down-flowing water film provides is an inexpensive and convenient alternative to more expensive fireproof curtains For the vertical blinds the experiment was unsuccessful due the heat of the furnace making the strip become wrinkled and thus degrading the uniformity of the water film

Date of Award	2015 Feb 5
Original language	English
Supervisor	Ta-Hui Lin (Supervisor)