Experimental Study of Time to Onset of Flashover in Classroom Size Compartment

A 3-year experimental research project, involving full-scale fire tests, was undertaken to investigate whether quasi-fire-resistive wooden building with supplemental fire safety measures, if necessary, could reach the equivalent level of the fire-resistive building, especially for safe egress of occupants. Flashover is one of the most important phenomena, relating to safe egress of the occupants. In this paper, the results of five types of fire tests are reported to investigate the effects of wood interior finish and loaded combustibles within the compartment with a floor area of 63 m2 and 150 m2, on the time to onset of flashover.