Fires in Compartments Built with Sandwich Panels - Rolff Ripke Leisted

Abstract: The heat transfer and fire dynamics of enclosure fires in compartments made from steel-faced sandwich panels were studied experimentally in order to determine the feasibility of down-scaling the enclosure size of the ISO 13784-1 test compartment. The different scales used for the experiments were 1:5, 2:5, 1:2 and 1:1. For all scales, experiments were conducted with two types of steel-faced sandwich panels, one with a core of stone wool (SW) and the other with a core of a polymeric product (Polyisocyanurate (PIR) or Polyurethane (PUR)). The parameters studied were the heat release rate (HRR), the temperatures of the air and smoke layer inside the compartment, the temperatures at and in the walls, the pressure differences and temperatures in the doorway of the compartment. A one-dimensional heat transfer model was used to compare the energy distribution and heat flux to the boundaries in the enclosures built with panels with a SW core. This model is based on the measured temperature inversely used to predict the equivalent net heat flux required to cause such a temperature change.

Bio: After finishing his bachelor’s degree in civil engineering at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) with the bachelor thesis entitled “Experimental Study of the Effects of Flame Retardants Applied to Chipboard”, Rolff joined the 2012 International Master of Science in Fire Safety Engineering cohort. He spend his first semester studying at the University of Edinburgh and finished the program writing his master thesis at Lund University with the title “Design Fire for Building Content in Arson Scenarios”. Rolff returned to the DTU temporally as a research assistant prior to starting as a PhD, both at the department of civil engineering. Rolff is currently working as a fire safety engineer at NIRAS and preparing for his PhD defence. Rolff is also a board member of the Technical Fire Safety Society in Denmark organizing meetings for the members on a broad range of fire safety related topics such as specific active fire safety solutions, timber fire safety and fire fighter procedures.