Skylight tests in progress
Ferm Engineering is conducting product testing with Danpal Australia on its skylights to ensure they meet Australian fire safety standards and have baseline data for fire engineers.
Ferm CEO Steve Burton says the work adds to Ferm’s product fire testing expertise. While Danpal’s fire-retardant polycarbonate skylights, facades and decorative walls manufactured overseas meet European building regulations, the Australian standards can be more onerous or limited in their applications.
The skylights, used in large sporting complexes, shopping centres and warehouses, need to be impact resistant and fire resistant. Studies for fire spread are evaluated on their behaviours under AS1530.
The testing research is being conducted by Ferm engineer Kieren Quach who has just completed a Master of Fire Safety Engineering degree at the University of Queensland (UQ). Kieren’s thesis was on the mechanics of developing a modular flashover box to explore the fire flashover phenomenon with an adjoining compartment and different ventilation openings.
Ferm sponsored Kieren and his installation of a flashover box at UQ’s fire lab. The fire safety testing facility includes a flashover room that enables researchers to observe how fire behaves in flashover events at different ventilation openings.
The compartmentalised flashover box enables students to observe how ventilation affects fires and how they spread from room to room. The research will be useful in the Danpal skylighting product testing for fire spread behaviours.
