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July 2010 - Dear partners July 2010 - Fire tests on piping for offshore and industrial purposes July 2010 - Fire safety in Stadiums July 2010 - Fire testing in the cone calorimeter July 2010 - EGOLF harmonises European fire safety July 2010 - A desired quality label: The road to certification July 2010 - AFITI recognised by the French government April 2010 - Efectis Nederland on the move! (Efectis newsletter issue 4) April 2010 - New door testing facility in France: Smoke tightness, operability and durability (Efectis newsletter issue 4) April 2010 - Efectis builds full scale temporary fire test tunnel (Efectis newsletter issue 4) April 2010 - Efectis Ibérica and Afiti participation in the “Technical Conference on Safety in Underground Facilities” (Efectis newsletter issue 4) April 2010 - CE-marking of Fire Protective products: Mandatory in France (Efectis newsletter issue 4) April 2010 - Offshore steel structures: Inspection friendly Passive Fire Protection (Efectis newsletter issue 4) April 2010 - Spanish authorities acknowledge Fire Safety Engineering as a complement to Prescriptive Codes (Efectis newsletter issue 4) November 2009 - News from Efectis Grouping (Efectis newsletter issue 3) November 2009 - Tested: How fire safe are electric stoves? (Efectis newsletter issue 3) November 2009 - Service Concept: French national approvals for Intumex (Efectis newsletter issue 3)
November 2009 - Explosion risk during a tunnel fire: A water mist system seriously put to the test (Efectis newsletter issue 3) November 2009 - New requirements: AFITI helps producers of smoke extraction ducts with new service (Efectis newsletter issue 3) November 2009 - New name in European fire safety engineering: Efectis Ibérica (Efectis newsletter issue 3) July 2009 - News from the board, by Tomas de la Rosa (Efectis newsletter issue 2) July 2009 - Efectis furnace cameras at your service (Efectis newsletter issue 2) July 2009 - Fruitful co-operation between SINTEF NBL and ComputIT: Full-scale test rig for oil and gas fires (Efectis newsletter issue 2) July 2009 - Emerging problem for immersed tunnels: fire induced concrete cracking (Efectis newsletter issue 2) July 2009 - Changes in Spanish Basic Document 'Safety in case of FIRE': Adequate alternatives accepted to guarantee a higher fire protection level (Efectis newsletter issue 2) July 2009 - Service Concept One Stop Shopping CE marking (Efectis newsletter issue 2) April 2009 - Jet fire demonstration impresses Norwegian safety engineers (Efectis newsletter issue 1) April 2009 - Fire risk analysis of nuclear research buildings (Efectis newsletter issue 1) April 2009 - Efectis Ibérica founded: Fire safety engineering for Spain and Portugal (Efectis newsletter issue 1) April 2009 - European Test & Approval Campaign for Reynaers Aluminium (Efectis newsletter issue 1) April 2009 - Safety in the Hubertustunnel (Efectis newsletter issue 1)
July 2010 - Dear partnersHaving joined Efectis Holding just one month ago (June 1st, 2010), I performed many visits to become familiar with the Efectis organization and to become aware of the expectations customers have towards Efectis.
I participated to informal discussions, official meetings and committees with the Efectis teams in Saint-Aubin, Maizières-les- Metz, Rijswijk, and with AFITI LICOF in Madrid and Toledo, with SINTEF NBL in Trondheim, Norway.
I discovered many different people, cultures, languages, but one single passion and motivation for scientific excellence, quality and customer satisfaction, fire tests and fire safety engineering.
2010 - 2011 will be a crucial period: the market evolves continuously, the competition is hard, the customers are looking for real partners able to advise and support them and not pure "test and engineering suppliers". This provides really much more opportunities for us in terms of developing partnerships, proposing additional competences and skills to clients, and to become present on a worldwide scale.
The challenges are numerous for Efectis:
• Become even more skilled and more efficient by sharing best practices, expertise, and the strategic vision between the different testing institutes belonging to Efectis
• Become even more ambitious towards our customers, our prospects and the new markets
• Become even more creative to answer customers for more and more complex requests
• Become even more efficient in our customer relationship management, by proposing them new ways to collaborate and generate even more added value for them... consequently for us.
I am really glad and proud to contribute to this unique adventure in the world of fire safety!
July 2010 - Fire tests on piping for offshore and industrial purposesEfectis has been performing fire tests on mostly plastic piping for industrial and offshore installations for several years. These tests are specifically intended for piping that needs to maintain its function during a so-called blow-out, when ignition of leaked gas of a nearby pipe system occurs. This results in heat being radiated towards a pipe.
The tests are performed according to standards as defined by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) Resolution A 753(18) Level 3, Appendix 2. In this socalled L3 test, the pipe is subjected to a heat flux of 113.6 kW/m² by means of a burner array, while the pipe is filled with stagnant water and pressurized up to 3 Bar.
During the test the specimen is in full contact with the jet flames of the burner array.
The test lasts for thirty minutes, but test conditions can be adjusted to specific circumstances. For example, the L3 test can be extended to take into account a higher water pressure inside the sample pipe, or a longer heating duration. To pass the test, the pipe must not leak during the test period. Only slight seeping through the pipe’s surface is allowed.
After completion of the fire test, the specimen is allowed to cool down before an additional pressure test is conducted at the same pressure as the pipe manufacturer’s pressure rating. This pressure typically amounts to 1.5 times the maximum working pressure recommended by the manufacturer. To pass the test, leakage must not exceed 0.2 litres per minute for a fifteen minute period during which the pipe is under pressure.
July 2010 - Fire safety in Stadiums On May 23rd, the European Football Association (UEFA) confirmed that France will be the host of the 2016 European Football Championship. New regulations were needed to ensure fire safety in the stadiums where the matches will take place. Efectis France was one of the parties involved in defining these regulations.
France’s Euro 2016 plans include the increase of the capacity of various stadiums, refurbishment of eight stadiums and the construction of four new stadiums. A preliminary study was carried out and a first design was made in order to show that the stadium construction can meet UEFA’s time schedule.
Construction of the new stadium in Lille started several months ago. The stadiums are designed not only to accommodate sports events. Seventy percent of the events in these large stadiums are not sports-related, but rather, for instance, concerts, car events and historical spectacles.
However, French fire safety regulations were inadequate: classifications “PA” for outdoor events, “X” for sports buildings and “L” for spectacle buildings were not defined for buildings housing 30,000 people, let alone more than 80,000 spectators. The Stade de France, built in 1997, led to a large number of discussions concerning fire safety design. In six months, a work group formulated a new regulation for structures with the capacity to accommodate many occupants.
Efectis France contributed its extensive fire safety experience to this work group. It used knowledge on smoke modelling and evacuation resulting from the analysis of events during the fire incident at the football stadium in Groningen, the Netherlands. Furthermore, Efectis France was involved in studies concerning the refurbishment of Valenciennes Stadium, the construction of Le Havre stadium and the spectacle room ARENA in the Bordeaux stadium, where it applied the new regulation. The ‘Technical Specification on Large Constructions with multiple uses’ was approved by the Central Safety Commission (CCS) on May 6th, 2010.
The new regulation introduces a maximum evacuation time of ten minutes. Small enclosures have to be engineered to minimize smoke hazard and in many cases structural fire engineering is necessary to prevent progressive collapse of the roof. A study regarding these methods was already performed in 1997 for the Stade de France, where the roof is suspended in a static equilibrium. Assessment of smoke propagation and fire containment is especially important, as different parts of a large stadium are typically connected with each other. To organise safe events in large enclosures with thousands of people, specific design based on fire safety assessment is an absolute necessity.
July 2010 - Fire testing in the cone calorimeterAt present, the cone calorimeter test is one of the most advanced small scale methods for assessing the characteristics of a material’s reaction to fire. The test procedure is described in the international standard ISO 5660.
The test makes it possible to evaluate the important properties of flammability, combustibility and smoke production. As for flammability, the observed time to ignition (tig) indicates how easily the product is ignited.
Combustibility is characterised in terms of heat release rate (HRR), which is measured in kW/m2. This indicates the intensity with which the material burns. By dividing the total heat released during the test (THR) by the mass loss, the effective heat of combustion [MJ/kg] is found.
The smoke production rate (SPR) indicates how much and at what rate visible smoke is released from the specimen. The total and average smoke production are also calculated. In addition, production of toxic smoke gases such as CO, CO2, SO2, HBr, NOx, HCl, HF and HCN can be quantified by gas analysis using infrared spectroscopy (FTIR).
The cone calorimeter is an efficient tool for several purposes. It can be used for product development, for instance to compare different variants of your product to find the best one. It can also be used to screen many products to find the one that best suits your fire safety needs. It provides a way to determine fire behaviour parameters, which are an important input to fire safety analyses. And last but not least it helps to predict fire behaviour in larger scale tests like the SBI test and room corner test. This is done by using specially designed calculation models.
The cone calorimeter is used to assess fire reaction characteristics for products for maritime use, for offshore applications and for approval of building products according to building regulations in various countries. It is as versatile as it gets.
July 2010 - EGOLF harmonises European fire safetyIn 1988, CTICM, TNO and AFITI together with other European laboratories founded the European Group of Official Laboratories in Fire (EGOLF). EGOLF was created to harmonize procedures, as a pre-standardisation of fire testing.
Succeeding Leen Twilt (TNO), Kjell Smith Pedersen (SINTEF NBL, Norway) and Niall ROWAN (EXOVA, UK), I am proud to serve the European Group of Organizations for Fire Testing, Inspection and Certification as President since May 2010. EFECTIS has always strongly supported EGOLF and strongly believes in continuous improvement of the standard of quality of the fire related activities in Europe.
Initially, EGOLF was created to conduct the European pre-standardisation work, and still continues playing this role, but to date, the challenge is changing: The CE marking has been introduced for quite a number of fire safety products and the CPR (Construction Product Regulation) may soon be published.
Thus, national governments, who used to have control over the whole approval process of the fire safety products, will soon lose this control. It is our responsibility to ensure that the testing, inspection and certification processes are conducted in a professional, consistent and ethic manner through the organisations, so that it is reliable and trustworthy.
EGOLF has - as a minimum - required members to be EN 17025 accredited, and EN 17020 for those members performing inspections. The last major step was the conduction of a state of the art European Fire Resistance Round Robin, a highly demanding but also rewarding project for all the members who took part in it. The main results of this first and unique Round Robin in Fire Resistance will soon be published.
With the growing use of Fire Safety Engineering, with a need for architectural innovation, fire laboratories will have to develop an in-depth knowledge of the use of numerical tools, in order to effectively combine experimentation and simulation. Here also, there is little or no room for error when human lives are at stake.
EGOLF requires strong commitment, but is really a wonderful place to enjoy the best level of information, harmonisation, training and networking, and to promote quality and best practices in our line of work.
July 2010 - A desired quality label: The road to certificationCertification of a product or system is conducted by an independent body. It is performed in order to confirm that a product or service meets a standard or other regulatory document. This means that the properties and characteristics of the product or service have been verified to comply with the applicable technical regulations and specifications and therefore meet industry and market standards.
Certification can be either voluntary or compulsory. Whether it is compulsory or not depends on the target market for the product or service and the applicable laws. CE marking is compulsory if the product or system falls within the scope of the European Directives as defined by the European Union. Therefore it is essential that all products marketed or placed in service under the Construction Products Directive (CPD) have the CE mark.
Talking about voluntary certification, it never replaces CE marking, but it provides extra information about the performance of the certified products and services. Voluntary certification can be applied in parallel with CE marking.
There are various ways to obtain certification and there is a large number of certification marks available on the market. As a member of the Efectis Certification Work Group, AFITI can simplify matters by advising manufacturers which certification method to choose. It has the necessary technical know-how to recommend a certification scheme and help to obtain it, based on the nature of the product and its intended market.
July 2010 - AFITI recognised by the French governmentAFITI-LICOF has been recognised by the French Ministry of Ecology, Sustainable Planning and Development as a party that performs fire resistance tests and inspections in compliance with the Construction Products Directive (CPD).
April 2010 - Efectis Nederland on the move! (Efectis newsletter issue 4)Numerous customers and relations have been welcomed for over 20 years on our well known premises in Rijswijk, near The Hague, but mainly driven by project development plans of the local municipalities, the grounds on which we are currently housed have to be cleared within a couple of years. Efectis Nederland is well under away with the plans to move the laboratory and associated offices to a new location in the Netherlands.
We want to be ahead of these plans of course, and is eager to develop new facilities, providing us the ideal opportunity to implement customer wishes and to modernise our laboratory. This includes of course modern and extended test facilities, adequate spaces for accomodation of customers and their staff for preparation of test specimens, well equipped meeting rooms, etc.
New land, with an area of some 5,000 m2 was acquired close to where the HighSpeedLink from Amsterdam to Paris crosses the major highway running between The Hague and Utrecht. Customers profit immediately from this, because our accesibility is greatly improved: close to a major railway station and other public transport means, as well as the major highway, visitors and suppliers have easy access to our new lab.
Customers will also profit from the well thought-out logistic design, and enlarged testing capacity, reducing elapse time for testing. Also, customer may expect new services such as renting of parts of the lab for confidential testing and product development.
To date, we are in the phase of selecting equipment providers (mainly the fire testing furnaces suppliers) and are confident we can welcome you in the new facilities within second half 2011. Through this newsletter, you will be updated regularly!
April 2010 - New door testing facility in France: Smoke tightness, operability and durability (Efectis newsletter issue 4)The laboratory of Efectis France at Maizières-lès-Metz is now fitted with the technical means to carry out smoke control tests on single-leaf or double-leaf doors with overall dimensions of up to 2 m width by 3 m height. Together with the capability to test for operability and durability this leads to a complete test portfolio for doors.
The tests are performed according to EN 1634-3. Efectis France is accredited to perform this test method, which allows the evaluation of smoke leakage at an ambient temperature of 20°C and at a temperature of 200°C. Smoke leakage at 20°C and 200°C is referred to the Sa and the Sm classifications, respectively. Testing leads to a Test Report, in which the test results are presented, and a Classification Report, in which test results are reported with respect to their E, I or W classifications, including their associated time durations. The smoke tightness criteria are used for instance in Germany, Austria and Poland.
200,000 test cycles
In order to complete its testing portfolio for all kinds of doors, Efectis France is equipped with a test facility for testing door durability. Such testing can be used to support product development. These tests lead to the C classification, ranging from C1 to C5 performance. The C5 performance criterion corresponds to a maximum of 200,000 test cycles. Our member Afiti-Licof is also able to perform such tests. The C classification is widely required across Europe, for example in Germany, Austria, Spain and Poland.
April 2010 - Efectis builds full scale temporary fire test tunnel (Efectis newsletter issue 4)In November 2009, Efectis Nederland assembled a full scale test tunnel on the premises of Efectis in Rijswijk, the Netherlands. This temporary tunnel, with a total length of well over seventy meters, was erected within two weeks. It was built to simulate a two lane road tunnel. Internally the tunnel was eight meters wide and 5.2 meters high.
The test tunnel served as a setting to investigate the effect of suppression methods on medium scale class A and B fires in a ventilated tunnel environment. The ventilation system installed realized an air velocity of more than 5 m/s over the entire cross-section of the tunnel. For the tests the tunnel was equipped with a range of cameras and temperature and radiation sensors.
Immediately after the testing period, in December 2009, the tunnel was disassembled. Unique components of the structure such as the roof elements and a large part of the ventilation system are kept in storage by Efectis. Other construction elements that were rented, such as the sea containers, were returned to the owners.
Valuable experience
During the design, building and disassembly phases Efectis Nederland gained considerable experience with the construction method that was used to build the tunnel, its safety aspects and the logistics of transport and placement. It has taught Efectis Nederland how to assemble large temporary enclosures for a wide range of geometries. These can serve as full scale models of parts of office buildings, parking garages, tunnels, underground railway stations or storage facilities.
A wide variety of dimensions can be realized quickly with this construction method. Floor areas of up to 500 m2 and heights of up to 8 m are within reach. Ventilation capacity can be varied from 500,000 to 1,000,000 m3/hr. Efectis Nederland has proven its capability to build and equip a large scale ventilated enclosure, to carry out a related test programme and to disassemble the structure all within a number of weeks. Furthermore, it has proven that project costs of this exercise can be tightly managed. Thanks to this experience and capability, full scale testing of the effects of fire, smoke, ventilation and suppression in large spaces has now become a realistic possibility.
April 2010 - Efectis Ibérica and Afiti participation in the “Technical Conference on Safety in Underground Facilities” (Efectis newsletter issue 4)Tomás de la Rosa, CEO of Efectis Ibérica and Afiti-Licof, participated in the “Technical Conference on Safety in Underground Facilities”, held on January 28, 2010 in the Experimental Centre “San Pedro de Anes”. Tomás de la Rosa was invited there by Fundación Barredo. In addition to the presentations, several tests were carried out in Spain, including fire experiments and tests to demonstrate systems that facilitate evacuation and guidance of people during an emergency situation.
Among the speakers at the technical conference were Gabriel Santos Hernández of Metro de Madrid, Fernanda Bermejo Martínez of AENA and Mariano Laguna Castrillo of CSIC. José Benito Solar Menéndez, General Director of Fundación Barredo, acted as chairperson.
April 2010 - CE-marking of Fire Protective products: Mandatory in France (Efectis newsletter issue 4)Fire Protective products are covered by the Construction Product Directive (CPD) and therefore must be CE-marked. The technical specification for Fire Protective products is ETAG 18 parts 1 to 4:
• Part 1: General
• Part 2: Reactive Coatings for Fire Protection of Steel Elements
• Part 3: Renderings and Rendering Kits intended for Fire Resisting Applications
• Part 4: Fire Protective board, slab and mat products and kits
In France, all of the Fire Protective products that are brought onto the market after 18 April 2010 will have to be CE-marked.
Furthermore, fire protective products fall under system 1 of attestation of conformity. This means that a certification body must be involved in the CE-marking process. Within Efectis Grouping, CTICM is a notified body for CE-marking of fire protective products.
The European Technical Approval (ETA) must be issued by an Approval Body. SINTEF is such a body and is a member of EOTA. Technical Approval can be issued on the basis of test data (for example as a result of testing in Efectis laboratories) and the manufacturer’s documentation regarding production and installation.
Fire protection products are evaluated with regard to categories of use. They are divided into product families related to the element that they are intended to protect: steel, concrete, composite or other elements. Depending on the product, the categories of use are either outdoor or indoor.
These categories are sub-divided into specific uses:
• Outdoor use
– Exposed to rain and UV (type X)
– Not exposed to rain and UV (type Y – Y1 and Y2 for Reactive Coatings for steel structure)
• Indoor use (Type Z1 or Z2)
Efectis is your partner for testing, inspection and issuing of ETA and CEmarking of your Fire Protective products.
April 2010 - Offshore steel structures: Inspection friendly Passive Fire Protection (Efectis newsletter issue 4)Steel structures such as pipes and tanks located on offshore platforms must be protected from jet fire exposure. Various types of Passive Fire Protection coatings (PFP) are available for this purpose. However, there is a need to inspect the steel structure lying under the PFP material in order to reveal possible damage. SINTEF NBL has therefore carried out a project to find PFP materials that do not inhibit inspection of the protected steel. Inspection of the steel was undertaken using ultrasonic test methods.
In order to find Passive Fire Protection materials a number of small scale fire test procedures were used. The screening tests were performed on steel plates measuring 100 mm by 100 mm, coated with different PFP materials. In order to indicate performance under jet fire conditions a small scale jet fire test was developed. A torch with premixed propane and pressurized air was assembled and mounted in front of a small scale furnace. The test specimens were mounted at the centre of the furnace, which produced a heat flux on the test specimen of approximately 200 kW/m2. Some eroding effects were caused by the high gas velocity. The temperature on the back of the steel plate was measured in order to investigate the insulation ability. Specimens were also tested in the cone calorimeter.
Results
Twenty different PFP materials were tested in total. The differences in levels of 'inspectability' and levels of fire performance were considerable. Some materials blocked all ultrasonic signals. Other materials produced large amounts of smoke and heat, they ignited very easily, or they were destroyed by the erosive effect of the small scale jet fire. Only a few products performed satisfactorily for all test criteria. These were re-tested in a full scale jet fire test at SINTEF NBL to confirm their jet fire resistance performance.
April 2010 - Spanish authorities acknowledge Fire Safety Engineering as a complement to Prescriptive Codes (Efectis newsletter issue 4)Recently a meeting of Spanish and French Fire Safety authorities was held at the Spanish Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Commerce. This meeting was initiated and led by Efectis Ibérica and Afiti-Licof with the collaboration of the French Ministry of the Interior and Efectis France. The Spanish authorities present were the Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Commerce, the Ministry of Housing and the Eduardo Torroja Institute. These parties underlined the need for development and promotion of Fire Safety Engineering (FSE) in Spain, and showed their interest in making FSE a reality in Spain in the near future.
November 2009 - News from Efectis Grouping (Efectis newsletter issue 3)
Dear reader,
In this third newsletter, we have the pleasure of introducing you to our Technical and Marketing team. Efectis currently employs about two hundred ‘fire experts’ in different European countries. They have a wide range of competences and can build on many years of customer experience.
The Technical Team and the Marketing Team both represent the know-how and ambition of all of our staff: to provide solutions to customers and to increase the efficiency of our own organisation.
The Technical team works hard at optimizing test facilities, at bringing about innovations to laboratory equipment and at increasing our presence in professional working committees on for example product and test standards.
The co-ordinated actions in these fields save time as well as money – for the organisation and also for the customer. The Marketing team focuses on customer needs. Actions for instance result in the development of new service concepts, new communication tools and in customer events. The staff in both teams represents different responsibilities and has a multicultural background.
You could call it a ‘patchwork’, but this diverse background serves a clear purpose: to make results ‘tangible’…… in your hands – like the Efectis Newsletter that was initiated by our teams.
November 2009 - Tested: How fire safe are electric stoves? (Efectis newsletter issue 3)Fire statistics show that electric stoves represent a serious fire hazard in domestic buildings. In Norway, incorrect use of electric cookers causes about nine percent of all residential fires, leading to about seven percent of the deaths due to fire. SINTEF NBL, the Norwegian Fire Research Laboratory, now examines the phenomenon of kitchen fires. The organisation will for instance point out what type of safety equipment could reduce the number of such fires.
In Norwegian fire statistics two specific groups stand out. Young males run a relatively high risk to die in cooking fires during the night, whereas elderly people run a higher risk during the day.
Information obtained from the Nordic countries, Canada and USA, shows that many fires are caused by unattended cooking. Most cooking fires result in only limited damage and occur during the afternoon. Fatalities, however, are the result of night time cooking accidents in a remarkably large number of cases.
Smoke detectors not flawless
Smoke detectors are mandatory in residential buildings in Norway. One would expect these to prevent the escalation of kitchen fires. This is not the case: 39 percent of the fires with a fatal outcome occurred in spite of the presence of a smoke detector.
Approximately half of the detectors functioned flawlessly. 20 percent, however, did not work at all.
Further testing
In order to further investigate this topic, SINTEF NBL will create cooking fires in its laboratory. Different types of safety equipment will be tested there, both preventive and fire fighting equipment. The project is scheduled to be completed by December 2010. Relevant input is highly appreciated!
November 2009 - Service Concept: French national approvals for Intumex (Efectis newsletter issue 3)
On the basis of technical expertise and international recognition, Efectis provides service concepts to customers in the fields of consultancy, testing, certification and seminars. One of these customers is Intumex. Efectis France has been chosen by this Austrian firm to carry out a comprehensive assessment programme on its existing test results.
The Austrian company Intumex, part of the worldwide Etex Group, specializes in passive fire protection materials. The products are mainly used as seals for cables and pipes in order to prevent the spread of smoke and fire. The product range consists of fire stopping coatings, collars, bricks and wraps. These products contribute to fire safety in buildings all over the world.
French market
Intumex already makes use of fire test results carried out according to the EN test standards 1366 – 3 and 1366 – 4. The original fire tests were conducted some years ago by a Central European testing institute. Efectis uses these existing results as the basis for its assessment. These results are compared to and translated into the fire safety requirements of the French building legislation. In this way, Efectis France has established for Intumex the French national fire resistance approvals, the ‘Procès verbaux de Classement’. As a result Intumex will be able to operate in the French building market. Please note, that Efectis can also assist customers to obtain the CE-marking
for fire stopping products based on the ETAG 026.
November 2009 - Explosion risk during a tunnel fire: A water mist system seriously put to the test (Efectis newsletter issue 3)The use of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) increases. This results in a growing need to allow LPG tank trucks to travel through tunnels. Because of this it is necessary to use special measures to minimise the risk of a BLEVE (Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapour Explosion) in the LPG tank truck due to fire in the tunnel. One way to achieve this goal is to cool the LPG tank truck with a water mist system in the tunnel.
But how can the effectiveness of such a system be verified? In 2007 a unique opportunity occurred to do so. The possibility arose to carry out full scale fire tests in the Runehamar test tunnel in Norway. An LPG tank, partly filled with water, was placed in the tunnel. A full-size tank was used in order to ensure that the air flow and water mist around the tank, the absorption of radiation, the condensation of water vapour on the outer surface and even the run-off of water from the surface conformed as closely as possible to reality. The tank was subjected to a series of large cargo and pool-fires located closely upstream.
Seeking the limits
The thermal conditions around the tank and the thermal response of both the tank's surface and its bulk were measured. The risk of a BLEVE was predicted on the basis of these measurements.
Only when the limits of the water mist system were sought, by purposely delaying the activation time, there proved to be a serious risk of a BLEVE. This occurred after 400 seconds in one fire test with a cargo consisting of 720 stacked pallets.
In all other tests the fire was extinguished or controlled quickly enough to prevent a BLEVE. The tests were funded by the Dutch Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management. These were part of a larger test series with water mist systems, carried out by SINTEF/NBL, Aquasys Systems and Efectis NL.
November 2009 - New requirements: AFITI helps producers of smoke extraction ducts with new service (Efectis newsletter issue 3)Last April, the Spanish Technical Code for buildings was modified. Some of the changes relate to smoke control in case of fire (chapter 8). Fire resistance requirements for extraction ducts were lowered, but at the same time the demanded extraction capacity of systems was increased.
The fact that fire resistance requirements are lowered means that previous test results of extraction ducts are still valid. Previously obtained classifications by manufacturers in most cases (E600 120) exceed the present requirements (E300 60). New products brought in for testing to achieve the new classification E300 60 will actually undergo the same test as before. The test standard is the same, except for the gas temperature, which is now only 300 ºC instead of 600 ºC. This change of course results in a lower impact on the product. This enables manufacturers to use lower thickness steel and thereby to lower their production costs.
Saving time and money
AFITI-LICOF has a track record of about seventy tests on extraction duct systems. No other laboratory in Europe has the same vast experience in testing these systems. The new minor change in one of the test parameters will clearly result in major differences in fire resistance results. Therefore, the tests of newly brought in products will provide vital information and systematic insight into product lay out specifications. AFITI likes to help its customers to optimize their products, creating a reduction in both costs and material use. For this purpose, AFITI has invested in a new Oxygen Analyser manufactured by SIEMENS. This device analyses much more precisely than required by the standard. This feature enables clients to gain systematic insight into their product characteristics. It thereby enables them to optimize the required product specifications to meet the requirements of the Spanish Technical Code.
This new service by AFITI therefore reduces both their production costs and their product development lead time.
November 2009 - New name in European fire safety engineering: Efectis Ibérica (Efectis newsletter issue 3)
The demand for fire safety engineering develops rapidly in Spain. Three companies of the Efectis grouping, AFITI-LICOF, Efectis France and Efectis Netherlands, decided to answer to this call. Together they created a new company to provide fire safety engineering services on the Spanish and Portuguese markets. This company operates since last August under the name of Efectis Ibérica.
Currently, most construction projects in Spain follow the safety solutions prescribed in the different regulations in order to live up to legal fire safety demands. These regulations however also allow the use of alternative solutions - as long as these are at least equally safe compared to the prescribed ones. The concept of fire safety engineering is meant to provide these alternative solutions. Authorities, universities and business associations are very interested in the further development and promotion of this engineering concept.
Already up and running
It is the ambition of Efectis Ibérica to satisfy these demands. The company can build on the experience of the Efectis grouping to do so. Efectis Ibérica believes, like many stakeholders in Spain, that fire safety engineering contributes to safe and efficient construction of buildings and infrastructure. Efectis Ibérica collaborates in different projects with Spanish and European partners in order to further knowledge in this field. At present the company already has customers as important as Madrid´s METRO and construction company DRAGADOS (ACS Group).
July 2009 - News from the board, by Tomas de la Rosa (Efectis newsletter issue 2)
Dear reader,
On the occasion of this second Newsletter edition, I have the pleasure to inform you about our strategic goals.
Internationality
This strategy is “lived” by five member companies in Europe with a link to our cooperation partners, particularly in Asia and the USA. We will continue investigating in which country or region it would make sense to be present for the development of you, our customers.
Service concepts
Our strategy is focusing as well on the permanent up-grade of our service range. The service concepts we propose can combine the testing experience of our laboratories with the expertise of numerical calculations, and the comprehensive knowledge of approval and certification procedures in many countries.
Customer needs are increasingly varying with regard to product qualification, testing and approval schemes, training needs on fire safety aspects.
For this reason, we will develop in future even more our services in terms of individual client solutions.
Investments
We have decided to invest, for example, in furnace cameras to even better document the testing. We can also provide joint videoconferences between Efectis locations and the customer sites.
Naturally, our investment strategy is focused on choosing the latest technology of testing equipments combined with the appropriate location for our testing centres in different countries. In this respect, it is a pleasure for me to announce the decision of Ger Kusters, General Manager at Efectis Nederland, to move the Rijswijk centre for fire testing to a new premise, near by Zoetermeer.
We will inform you further on about this event, and want already say today “Welcome to our new Efectis Nederland facilities in 2011”!
July 2009 - Efectis furnace cameras at your service (Efectis newsletter issue 2)Recently, the centres for fire testing Efectis France, Efectis Nederland and AFITI - LICOF each invested in furnace cameras. The cameras are able to film inside a furnace continuously during a fire test. The high quality pictures allow the laboratory and the customer to observe better the behaviour of the specimen and to improve analysis of the test results.
Efectis Nederland and Efectis France have also invested in infrared cameras, which continuously measure the temperature of the unexposed side of the specimen during the test. This allows the customer to better understand the heat transfer through his specimen and to determine the characteristics of the product to be improved.
July 2009 - Fruitful co-operation between SINTEF NBL and ComputIT: Full-scale test rig for oil and gas fires (Efectis newsletter issue 2)A new project on offshore safety is being undertaken at SINTEF NBL as. It aims at studying the effect of monitors (water sprayers) on oil- and gas fires in congested spaces. A second aim is to study the fire fighting ability of deluge water with new environmentally friendly additives. A standard deluge system is used as reference. In order to make the study realistic, a new test rig will be erected at an outdoor test facility.
The new test rig will feature a concrete plate measuring 30 by 40 metres, collecting all the spill water from the tests up to 60,000 litres. The test rig will be 10 metres high, 10 metres wide and 15 metres long.
Initiators of the project are the Petroleum Safety Authority Norway (PSA), StatoilHydro and ConocoPhillips. The aim is to revise guidelines on assessing water-based firefighting systems in safety analyses. The project started late 2008 and should be completed during 2010. The project has been set up in close co-operation with ComputIT. This company is specialised in advanced CFD models for combustion and flow field simulation. It carries out calculations to predict the severity of test fires and the effect of water sprays. The co-operation has proven successful in earlier projects. It is a unique way of providing useful engineering tools for planning and construction of offshore installations. Pre-calculations by ComputIT are used to position the instruments for thermal measurements during the tests. The actual measurements of temperatures and heat fluxes are in turn used to further develop and verify the calculation tool (Kameleon FireEx).
July 2009 - Emerging problem for immersed tunnels: fire induced concrete cracking (Efectis newsletter issue 2)During the last decade, fire safety in tunnels has become a major international point of concern. A recent study focussed on the feasibility of repairing an immersed tunnel after a fire. Concerned about this issue, the Dutch Ministry of Transport commissioned a tentative study on the development of cracks, especially in the outer side of immersed tunnels where options for repair are limited. It showed that a tunnel fire led to the development of large and wide cracks. Efectis looked further into this matter and came up with new conclusions. But it is still a tough nut to crack.
Many immersed tunnels cross rivers, canals and even straits. Some examples are the Detroit Windsor tunnel in the USA, the Oresund tunnel connecting Denmark and Sweden and the Maastunnel at Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Tunnel immersion techniques date back to the early 1920's. The basic principle is quite simple: prefabricated reinforced concrete segments are constructed in a dock and transported to the building-site. There, they are sunk and interconnected to form the actual tunnel. But how do they behave in case of a tunnel fire?
The Wijkertunnel in Amsterdam was the subject of a case study into this issue. The conclusion was that in the long term the cracks might lead to corrosion of the reinforcement, eventually resulting in sudden collapse. There were however several uncertainties in the study. This made it necessary to perform a follow-up study to determine the real severity of the problem.
Millimetre wide cracks
To this end, Efectis set up an in-depth study of the concrete cracking issue. It performed fire tests using 1:10 scale models of immersed concrete tunnels. It also conducted a statistical test and developed a finite element computer simulation model to predict the behaviour on 1:1 scale, based on the scale model tests.
Several conclusions could be drawn from this. The scale model fire tests confirmed the development of wide cracks at the outer side, with widths of up to several millimetres. These cracks remained after cooling down. The addition of polypropylene fibres to prevent or mitigate the problem is not adequate to prevent this. Preventive measures such as passive insulation of the concrete or active measures such as sprinklers may need to be considered.
Other tunnel types
On some points, the results were still inconclusive. For instance, it is still not clear whether adding extra reinforcement is an adequate and cost-efficient solution. If and how does the crack behaviour manifest itself in other tunnel types? It is still unknown. These subjects should be studied further. The adequacy of existing and the development of new repair techniques should be investigated as well.
July 2009 - Changes in Spanish Basic Document 'Safety in case of FIRE': Adequate alternatives accepted to guarantee a higher fire protection level (Efectis newsletter issue 2)In April 2009, the Spanish Ministry of Housing issued a reviewed version of the Spanish Technical Code. It contains changes and clarification for several Basic Documents. One of the changes relates to the Basic Document DB SI (Safety in case of Fire).
This document clarifies the scope of the Spanish Technical Code, applicable to all kinds of non-industrial buildings. An important change regards the full acceptance of Performance Based Designs. When the rules in the Basic Document are not compatible with the safety level of a building, it is now permitted to use alternatives when they guarantee a higher fire protection level. In the chapter on smoke control, limits are set for the extraction flow rate of the smoke system. Fans must have an F300 60 classification. Ducts used only in one fire compartment should have an E300 60 classification and ducts used across fire compartments should have an EI 60 classification.
Some important changes and clarifications were made also in the Fire Resistance Chapter. These changes relate to secondary structural elements, definitions and fire resistance of timber structures. Regarding timber, different Kfi factors are established for use in calculations with serveral kinds of wood products.
These are just some of the major changes that have been made. It is important to compare building characteristics such as materials, elements and situation with the new and updated requirements in the Spanish Technical Code.
The last version of the DB SI (Safety in Case of Fire) of the Spanish Technical Code can be downloaded at http://www.mviv.es/es/pdf/cte/DB%20SI %20abril%202009.pdf
July 2009 - Service Concept One Stop Shopping CE marking (Efectis newsletter issue 2)One Stop Shopping CE marking
Efectis has several years experience in implementing the service concept 'One Stop Shopping CE-marking'. It is based on the EU Construction Product Directive. The Efectis concept allows manufacturers of fire resistant products to obtain CE-marking in a professional and customer oriented way. They benefit from the numerous services provided by a single organisation, Efectis.
With its renowned expertise in fire testing and extended applications for classification, Efectis has testing laboratories located all over Europe. SINTEF NBL in Norway, Efectis Nederland, Efectis France and AFITI–LICOF in Spain are the right contacts for product testing and certification. These laboratories are the place to go to for professional test campaigns and factory inspections, both necessary for CE-marking.
Synergy
There is real synergy between the Certification Division of Efectis Grouping member CTICM and the Efectis testing institutes. This guarantees that the CEmarking process is handled efficiently. In this context, Efectis also enjoys its co-operation with Norwegian SINTEF B&I and the Dutch TNO Certification BV to cover customer needs. For example, these are partners in the extensive testing and certification required for the European Technical Approvals.
The 'One Stop Shopping' concept and our geographical network throughout Europe, USA and Asia allow us to always get the information that the customer requires. In this way, we expand our expertise continuously. Our track record in CE-marking and European Technical Approvals of fire rated products comprises customer references from countries such as USA, France, Germany and Switzerland.
So Efectis is the organisation to turn to for certification of your fire resistant products! To obtain CE-marking, harmonized product standards are applicable, for example regarding heat and smoke exhaust ventilators (EN 12101- 3), glass in buildings (various standards are applicable) or suspended ceilings (EN 13964 / EN14716). With regard to doors and windows the product standard is not yet harmonized. CTICM is however pre-notified for CEmarking of these products. Some European guidelines are also applicable for Fire Protection Products (ETAG 018) and Fire Stopping and Fire Sealing Products (ETAG 26).
April 2009 - Jet fire demonstration impresses Norwegian safety engineers (Efectis newsletter issue 1)In February 2009 fifty safety engineers from the Norwegian oil company StatoilHydro visited SINTEF NBL to get information about fire testing in general and jet fire testing in particular. A jet fire demonstration was given. The visitors were impressed by the heat, the light and the sound of the burning gas jet.
An uncontrolled discharge of combustible gas under pressure poses a serious fire hazard in areas such as petrochemical plants and offshore petroleum rigs. If the gas, emitted at high velocity, is ignited the result will be a jet fire. An object exposed to a jet fire experiences high convective and radiative heat fluxes as well as severe erosive forces on its surface.
A jet fire test was designed to determine how various objects and passive fire protection materials perform when exposed to this fire scenario. Different kinds of objects can be tested according to the standard OTI 95634 issued by the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate and the British Health and Safety Executive, the international standard ISO 22899 and an extended version of the OTI-test. Oil companies require documentation from jet fire testing for a wide range of products and applications.
A local TV company was present. Their report can be seen here in Norwegian:
April 2009 - Fire risk analysis of nuclear research buildings (Efectis newsletter issue 1)In buildings that are used for nuclear research fire safety is of the utmost importance. Efectis France carries out fire risk analyses of these buildings. The studies are in compliance with the regulatory requirements defined in the Decree of 31 December 1999 on the prevention and limitation of noise and external risks resulting from the operation of nuclear plants.
The potential consequences of a fire are defined by two parameters: the risk of development and spread of fire, as well as the presence of toxic and radioactive products. The fire risk analysis includes both a qualitative study of the fire risks and a quantitative study of fire development.
The qualitative analysis is essential. It identifies the possible interactions between the different systems. The qualitative analysis also evaluates the intensity of fire risks per system as well as the specific risks of an installation in case of fire. A classification is made of all systems, in accordance with a critical condition matrix. Finally, a strategy is proposed for compliance and safety.
The quantitative study leads to a definition of safety objectives and associated performance criteria and to a set of real fire scenarios. Also, fire effects are quantified. The quantitative analysis also considers the fire behaviour of products and equipment under real fire conditions and checks whether safety objectives have been achieved. Finally, a specification of technical requirements is written.
April 2009 - Efectis Ibérica founded: Fire safety engineering for Spain and Portugal (Efectis newsletter issue 1)On February 2nd 2009, Efectis France, Efectis Nederland and AFITI founded Efectis Ibérica, a company specialized in fire safety engineering. Efectis Ibérica aims to bring the huge experience of Efectis in fire safety engineering to the Spanish and Portuguese markets.
Efectis Ibérica will help customers to optimize their projects. Efectis offers tools designed for the efficient development of fire safety engineering, such as modelling, scenario analyses, smoke exhaust design tools and experimental means. Also, Efectis Ibérica offers the services of fire experts trained in various fire safety engineering projects in France and The Netherlands.
In order to underline the importance of fire safety engineering, the newly founded company has already participated in the organization of the prestigious 5th International Congress on Fire Safety Engineering. The congress took place at Madrid from 18 to 20 February and was a huge success. A selection of the world’s leading speakers on fire safety engineering addressed an audience of over 500 participants. The audience became even more aware of the importance of fire safety engineering in relation to the actual requirements of building constructions.
April 2009 - European Test & Approval Campaign for Reynaers Aluminium (Efectis newsletter issue 1)Reynaers Aluminium has launched a new range of fire rated glazed partitioning walls and doors, the CS77 – FP system. The company, a leading international supplier of innovative and sustainable architectural aluminium solutions, has chosen Efectis, the leading network of fire engineering and testing institutes, to work on an optimised European test and approval program.
Efectis Nederland managed the test campaign, based on the EN test standards 1363-1, 1364-1 and 1634-1. Testing was conducted in co-operation with other independent laboratories in different countries. In all, 13 testing and approval bodies in 12 countries were involved in order to allow the certification of the required CS 77 – FP system configurations throughout Europe.
The system fully complies with European test standards and meets the EI 30 minutes and the EI 60 minutes fire safety requirements in building legislations. Backed by technical expertise and international recognition, Efectis provides various service concepts to customers in the field of consultancy, testing, certification, fire safety engineering and seminars.
April 2009 - Safety in the Hubertustunnel (Efectis newsletter issue 1)At the end of 2008 the 1500m long Hubertustunnel in The Hague was opened by the Dutch Minister of Public Works, Camiel Eurlings. The Hubertustunnel is the first tunnel in The Netherlands to be built below existing buildings. During the design and construction phase Efectis Nederland carried out several projects concerning the safety of the Hubertustunnel in case of fire.
The Hubertustunnel is a twin-tube bored tunnel that forms part of the Northern ring road of The Hague. Efectis carried out both fire testing and engineering activities during the design and construction phases.
The tunnel consists of tunnel segments and is lined with passive fire protection to prevent irreversible damage in case of fire. The connections between both tunnel tubes are sealed by safety doors, to realize safe places for escaping people during a fire. The fire resistance of the tunnel lining and the safety doors has been tested in furnace fire tests according to the well-known RWS fire curve for two hours.
The main engineering activities included computer simulations in order to check and optimize the ventilation strategy.
This was done using transient thermal 1D and CFD models. The ventilation system has been designed to ensure safe escape conditions for people upstream of the fire in case of a large fire. In case of heavy goods vehicle (HGV) fire the heat release rate is assumed to increase to 200MW within a few minutes. Especially those first minutes after the start of the fire are important, because backlayering has to be prevented, while the fire must be detected and the ventilation system switched on. Backlayering is the movement of smoke in the direction opposite to the ventilation direction, namely upstream of the fire where people might be present.
