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FireTEC

FireTEC is a UMD fire testing laboratory, offering state of the art facilities and expertise to evaluate the fire performance of materials, products and systems, where faculty and students work in unison. FireTEC provides a variety of standard and custom tests.

Flammability and Ignitability

  • ASTM E1354 - Cone Calorimeter
  • ASTM D92 - Flashpoint Test using Cleveland Open Cup Apparatus
  • ASTM E648 - Critical Radiant Flux of Floor Covering Systems 

Flame Spread

Smoke Generation

Suppression

  • NFPA 2001 - Test Standard for Clean Agent Fire Extinguishing Systems

 

FireTEC has the capability to perform a range of custom tests. Our indoor facilities are equipped with an exhaust system capable of handling up to 1 MW fires and a workshop for design and construction of testing assemblies. A wide spectrum of diagnostics is available including heat release rate measurement through oxygen consumption, spatially resolved temperature measurement (using thermocouples and/or infrared imaging), heat flux measurement (using Schmidt-Boelter gauges and/or plate thermometers), flow velocity measurement (using bi-directional probes) and combustion product analysis (including smoke, CO, CO2, NOx, SOx, and hydrocarbons).
 
We also provide panning, metrology and reporting support for large-scale outdoor fire experiments.

Examples of past projects include:

  • Understanding the relationship between the sprinkler flow rate and its ability to suppress wood crib fires.
  • Development of a new test method for observing smoldering-to-flaming transition on flexible foam/fabric assemblies.
  • Investigation of a lithium-ion battery fire.
FireTEC is supported by the faculty of the UMD Department of Fire Protection Engineering who are world-renowned experts in fire dynamics, detection and suppression.
 
For additional information about our capabilities, please contact Farid Alinejad at firetec@umd.edu or 301-405-5217.

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