Flammability and safety design of thermal insulation materials comprising PS foams and fire barrier materials

Modeling and experiments were performed to investigate the flammability and safety design of thermal insulation materials comprising polystyrene (PS) foams and fire barrier materials. PS flammability characteristics (flame heat flux, mass loss rate (MLR) and flame height) and scale characteristics were measured. Correlations among these characteristics were analyzed. The ratio of radiative flame heat flux to convective heat flux increased linearly with an increase in characteristic length of the PS combustion zone (L_c). A formula was deduced by which to predict the PS MLR using L_c. The total flame height and MLR per unit width was found to follow a power function, and the power n₁ was found to approach 2/3; the flame heat flux at the upper boundary of fire barrier zone and the dimensionless height of the fire barrier material also followed a power function (the power n₂ <0). A model was established by which to predict whether a fire barrier zone could prevent flames from spreading upwards. The predicted results were largely consistent with the experimental results. The results of this work will contribute to the risk assessment and fire safety design of thermal insulation materials comprising PS foams and fire barrier materials.