Study of Size Effects in the Fire Performance of Beds.
Study of Size Effects in the Fire Performance of Beds.
(578 K)
Ohlemiller, T. J.
NIST TN 1465; NIST Technical Note 1465; 30 p. January
2005.
Keywords:
beds (furniture); mattresses; fire resistance tests; gas
burners; ignition source; matches; heat release rate;
bedding
Abstract:
Three mattress/foundation designs of varied fire
resistance were tested with the California Technical
Bulletin 603 protocol (TB 603, using a pair of gas
burners as the ignition source) and also with a set of
heavy bedclothes ignited by a match-size flame. All
designs were tested in both twin and king size; one
design was tested also in queen size. A major goal was
to assess the possible existence of a mattress size
dependence in the response to the TB 603 protocol. All
testing was done inside a room (3.66 m wide by 4.27 m
long by 2.44 m high) with a single door opening half the
width of a fully opened door. The design yielding the
lowest peak heat release rate (HRR) showed no mattress
size dependence. The two other designs were more
ambiguous but showed no size dependence in their
response judged against the TB 603 pass/fail criteria.
The bedclothes fires atop the lowest HRR mattress showed
a large size dependence in their HRR peak. The queen
and especially the king size bedclothes peaks were large
enough to pose serious secondary ignition threats in a
realistic bedroom context. When tested atop the other
two, less resistant, mattress designs, the bedclothes
fires yielded controlled fires for the twin size but
runaway fires for the king size.
Building and Fire Research Laboratory
National Institute of Standards and Technology
Gaithersburg, MD 20899