The dimensions of our laboratory are 65' (length) x 37' (width) x 30' (height). The main door to the laboratory is 14 x 14', centered in one of the 37' wide ends. The main piece of equipment is a large hood with exhaust system that is equipped for heat release (oxygen consumption calorimetry), smoke and combustion gas concentration measurements. Our hood is positioned in the end farthest from the door (but with direct access from the door) about 10' from the three laboratory walls. All the sensors are connected with the data acquisition system that is located in a separate room located in the laboratory. Most of the large and intermediate scale experiments are conducted under the hood.

The hood is made of two parts. The upper part is made of steel and insulated inside. This part is pyramid shaped with the duct entrance at the top and 12' edges at the bottom. The height between the steel hood edges and the concrete floor is 11'. The steel hood has a "skirt" extension made of tight ceramic fiber fabric. This part is fastened to the edges of the steel hood and has the lower edge reinforced with steel pipes that form the lower edges of the skirt. The lower edges of the skirt-extended hood form a square with 16' long sides. The distance between the lower edge of the skirt and the floor is 6-1/2'. The skirt part of the hood is flexible (the steel pipes can be taken out) so that objects taller than 6-1/2' can be placed under the hood.

The hood is a part of the fully instrumented calorimeter for heat release rate measurements. Smoke and combustion gas concentration measurements (carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, water vapor and oxygen) are part of the calorimeter.

Other types of measurements (such as flux and temperature) can be made with the existing instrumentation.

The calorimeter is used to conduct non-standard large-scale fire simulation tests and various standard tests such as the ICAL test (ASTM E-1623-see description below), room fire test (ISO 9705, UBC 17-5, UBC 42-2), and various full-scale furniture tests (ASTM E-1352, ASTM E-1353, ASTM E-1537, ASTM E-1590, CAL 129, and CAL 133).

The Intermediate Scale Calorimeter (ICAL) is a newly developed apparatus capable of measuring heat release rate, mass loss rate, time to ignition, specimen surface temperature, smoke extinction area and other fire parameters under controlled uniform radiant exposures. The apparatus and the measurement procedures were recently standardized as ASTM E1623, Test Method for Determination of Fire and Thermal Properties of Materials, Products and Systems Using an Intermediate Scale Calorimeter (ICAL). Also, the ICAL is now an ISO Technical Report Document (ISO/TR 14696) and is currently being developed into an ISO standard. The ICAL was first constructed and used at the Weyerhaeuser Fire Technology Laboratory in Longview, Washington where it was introduced and accepted as ASTM E1623. Further development of this apparatus is now being pursued at Pacific Fire Laboratory, Inc.

The ICAL uses vertically oriented specimen of 1 m x 1 m x up to 0.15 m thick which are exposed to a uniform and constant heat flux (+-5%) from a natural gas-fired radiant panel. The radiant panel is equipped with water cooled shutters. The specimen is placed in a holder that is located on a load cell and moved into a position parallel to and centered on the radiant panel shortly before the test starts. The distance of the specimen from the panel determines the incident flux. The shutters are opened within one second and the specimen is exposed to a uniform heat flux between 0 and 60 kW/m2. The igniters are redglowing electrical wires positioned at the bottom and at the top of the specimen. The irradiance is kept constant throughout the test by regulating the inflow of natural gas to maintain the radiant panel surface at a constant temperature.

The radiant panel and the specimen are positioned under a gas collection hood. The standard instrumentation normally employed for the room fire test is used to determine the heat release rate by oxygen consumption as well as production rates of CO and smoke. Surface temperature measurements can be made routinely with an infrared pyrometer. The schematic of the ICAL is shown below.

The ICAL was initially developed as a test method primarily for measuring heat release rate of assemblies. Later techniques were developed for measuring material flammability properties. These are needed to evaluate ignition and flame spread scenarios for the purpose of fire litigation. Also, these parameters are needed as input in various fire growth and room fire models.

Input parameters that can be determined on the ICAL and are required by the wall fire spread and fire growth models:

Chilworth Pacific Fire Laboratory has the facilities to perform fully instrumented (heat flux sensors and thermocouples) mannequin burn tests of clothing. Also, we can conduct ignition tests of fabrics according to:

• CFR 16 Part 1610 (Standard for the Flammability of Clothing Textiles),
• CFR 16 Part 1615 (Standard for the Flammability for Children's Sleepwear: sizes 0 through 6X), and
• CFR 16 Part 1616 (Standard for the Flammability of Children's Sleepwear: sizes 7 through 14).