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Fourteen full-scale fire tests were conducted to determine the optimal design parameters of water-based protection systems against large industrial oil cooker fires. All but one test fires were self-ignited by heating the oil inside a test pan above its auto-ignition temperature. Three test mock-ups that simulated industrial oil cookers were fabricated for the tests: 3.0 m long by 2.4 m wide, 6.1 m long by 2.4 m wide, and 12.2 m long by 2.4 m wide. Three types of water spray systems utilizing 13 mm orifice sprinklers, 13 mm orifice spray nozzles, and 6.4 mm orifice spray nozzles, respectively, were installed to discharge water with various discharge densities into burning oil inside a pan. Rapid fire suppression was achieved, although fire flare-up was very pronounced and the interaction between the fire and the water spray was very intense. Test results showed that the systems using the nominal 6.4 mm orifice spray nozzles placed in a double-row 0.76 m above the oil surface, discharging a 20 mm/min density, yielded the best performance. The tests also indicated that bronze sprinklers or bronze spray nozzles may not be strong enough to use against auto-ignition fires inside a cooker. None of the stainless steel sprinklers or spray nozzles showed any damage after they were exposed to several test fires.

A new intermediate-scale fire test has been developed as a screening tool to evaluate wall and ceiling assemblies for material flammability. The scale of the test is large enough for the tested materials to reveal their behavior in a full-scale fire, but still small enough to provide substantial cost savings compared to 25-ft and 50-ft corner tests used for decades to evaluate wall/ceiling panels and other building materials. The test consists of parallel panels of the material assemblies being evaluated, which are each 1.07 m wide and 4.9 m high and separated by 0.53 m. A 360 kW propane sand burner is used as the ignition source. The parallel panel test is conducted under a 5-MW fire products collector to measure fire heat release rate (HRR). Materials used during development of the new test include various thicknesses of: polyvinylchloride, fire retardant plywood, fiberglass-reinforced melamine and panels with metal facings over foamed polyurethane, polystyrene, and polyisocyanurate. Comparisons with the 25-ft and 50-ft corner tests indicate that fire propagation behavior in the corner tests correlates well with the maximum HRR in the parallel panel test as follows: fire will not propagate to the end of the test array in the 25-ft corner test with combustible wall panels and a noncombustible ceiling if the HRR in the parallel panel test is <1100 kW; fire will not reach the top of the test array in the 50-ft corner test if the HRR in the parallel panel test is less than 830 kW; fire propagation will not reach the ends of the horizontal ceiling in the 25-ft corner test with both combustible wall and ceiling panels if the HRR in the parallel panel test is <830 kW.

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