Contributions on the fire performance assessment of ETICS systems

Abstract

The Romanian norms and technical regulations do not provide the obligation of compartment fire tests for composite facade insulation systems "ETICS". Unfortunately, only after these tests can result reliable data on the performance evaluation of ETICS under the effects of compartment fires, and there is still no harmonized European standard requiring such tests (in 2018 the first part of a European project that aims to harmonize the fire exposure test of facades was completed). In this context, researchers from the INCERC Fire Security Research and Testing Laboratory in Bucharest, tested experimentally the exposure to compartment fire of two types of ETICS, according to the test method set out in BS 8414. The climate test conditions of both systems were similar, and after the tests (for the first time in Romania) a series of data were obtained on the behaviour of ETICS under the action of compartment fires. With these results, the Romanian fire research aims to bring its contribution at European level, for the large-scale fire performance assessment of ETICS and the identification of innovative solutions for limiting fire propagation on building facades.