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Influence of Wind Speeds and Heating Exposures on the Thermal Insulation of Intumescent Fire-Retardant Coatings

Fire Technology volume 59, pages 767–792 (2023)Cite this article

Abstract

The standard fire resistance test failed to consider the effect of environmental wind on intumescent fire-retardant coatings. This study investigated the thermal insulation of intumescent fire-retardant coatings under various heating exposures (25 kW/m2, 35 kW/m2, 50 kW/m2 and 75 kW/m2) and wind speeds (0 m/s, 1 m/s, 2 m/s, 3 m/s). Fire-retardant coating presented a non-uniform intumescent process with wind influence. Environmental wind slowed the initial swelling rate, decreased the maximum coating thickness, and promoted the coating thickness decline. The coating at the front end was shorter than the rear end, which caused a higher steel temperature at the front end. The time of the steel temperature to reach the critical temperature was advanced indicating a decreased thermal insulation. Environmental wind caused a higher coating temperature and accelerated the coating depletion at the front end. The influence is stronger with higher heating exposure and faster wind speed. Wind affects the coating temperature and coating thickness via convective cooling and char oxidation, and char oxidation is a more dominant factor. Empirical correlations were applied to represent the influence of environmental wind on the maximum swelled thicknesses and average swelling rates of fire-retardant coatings at the front end. The predicting equation indicated the synergistic effects of wind speed and incident heat flux on the thermal insulation of fire-retardant coating.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the High-Tech Industry Science and Technology Innovation Leading Plan of Hunan Province (No. 2020GK2079), Natural Science Foundation of Hunan Province (No. 2022JJ40618), Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities of Central South University (No. 2021zzts0767), and the Innovation Training Program for College Students of Central South University (No. 2022105330243)

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Civil Engineering, Central South University, Changsha, 410075, China

    Yuhao Li, Chuangang Fan, Yuxin Gao, Long Yan, Ao Jiao, Saiya Feng & Zhengyang Wang

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  1. Yuhao Li
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Li, Y., Fan, C., Gao, Y. et al. Influence of Wind Speeds and Heating Exposures on the Thermal Insulation of Intumescent Fire-Retardant Coatings. Fire Technol 59, 767–792 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10694-023-01366-y

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Keywords

  • Environmental wind
  • Intumescent fire-retardant coating
  • Thermal insulation
  • Heating exposure
  • Steel temperature