Flammability and flame spread behavior of common fuels in Chinese historical buildings: An experimental research

A feature of Chinese historical buildings is the preservation of many traditional customs, such as using candles and incense burners, and decorating the rooms with some textiles. Therefore, there are both many fire sources and combustible materials indoors, which puts a huge threat to fire safety. Although some researchers have experimentally studied the ignition and fire spread characteristics of several combustible materials, to better conduct fire risk assessment in historical buildings, the dynamic burning behavior of common fuels should be further analyzed. This paper carried out experimental investigations for flammability and fire spread behaviors of combustible materials usually used in Chinese historical buildings, which are made of both natural fiber and synthetics. Considering practical applications, the size of each sample is chosen from standard-testing size to real size. It is summarized that there are large deviations among different materials due to their ingredients, textures, structures, etc. The natural-based materials are easy to be ignited and burn up quickly, and some synthetics reveal sharp increase in heat release rate. For the synthetics, as it can melt during burning, the flame spread process is accompanied by dripping. Once there are some combustibles near it, the dripping part is liable to ignite the combustibles and cause damage to cultural relics. Based on these knowledges, fire hazards of different materials in Chinese historical buildings are evaluated.