Fire Performance of EPS ETICS Facade: Effect of Test Scale and Masonry Cover

Many fire disasters have occurred on the thermoplastic expanded polystyrene (EPS) external thermal insulation composite systems (ETICS) installed vertically building facade. Thus, it is important to understand reaction-to-fire performance of EPS ETICS and effect sample scale, orientation, masonry cover in tests. In this work, both specimens alone with are tested under three different scales, (1) 0.01-m2 small-scale cone calorimeter test (ISO 5660-1), (2) 1-m2 intermediate-scale 14696), (3) 7-m2 larger-scale (JIS A 1310). Results show that impact orientation important, because heated vertical can melt flow away without ignition, limits melts. The peak heat release rate per unit area (pHRRPUA) doubles large-scale facade a flame spread, so cannot be simply scaled up. Moreover, significantly reduce burning HRR by factor 50%, effective from fires. embedded rock-wool barrier inside flame-spread HRR. This work helps scale-effect quantifies lowering hazards.