Citation

No Author(s) Listed. J. Appl. Fire Sci. 1999; 9(1): 71-77.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1999, Baywood Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

History warns that when it comes to evaluating flammability and fire resistance of materials, problems could arise if engineering design practices do not have a sound, scientific basis. Past use of invalidated test methods and models resulted in misapplication of products, which increased the fire risk in building environments. Fortunately, the United States and other countries are moving rapidly toward replacing prescriptive building codes (used for the past century) with performance-based codes requiring well-documented, scientifically validated practices. This article looks at the importance of scientifically validated fire testing, including three past examples of invalidated methods and contrasts them with scientifically validated tests.