Recommendation of tests for assessing flame spread of materials in Hong Kong

Abstract

Performance-based design for passive building fire safety provisions is accepted by the authority in Hong Kong since 1998. This is also known as the "fire engineering approach", though the performance-based fire code is not yet available. To cope with the use of new building materials, appropriate flame spread tests on materials and components should be specified. After reviewing four standard tests in the literature, i. e. ASTM E1321-97a, BS476: Part 7: 1997, ASTM E84-99/NFPA 255, and ISO 9705: 1993(E), it appears that ISO 9705: 1993(E) is suitable for assessing the flame spread of materials.