ASTM E119-12 pdf free download.Standard Test Methods for Fire Tests of Building Construction and Materials.
The test methods described in this fire-test-response standard are applicable to assemblies of masonry units and to composite assemblies of structural materials for buildings, including loadbearing and other walls and partitions, columns, girders, beams, slabs, and composite slab and beam assemblies for floors and roofs. They are also applicable to other assemblies and structural units that constitute permanent integral parts of a finished building.
The performance of walls, columns, floors, and other building members under lire-exposure conditions is an item of major importance in securing constructions that are safe, and that are not a menace to neighboring structures or to the public. Recognition of this is registered in the codes of many authorities, municipal and other. It is important to secure balance of the many units in a single building, and of buildings of like character and use in a community: and also to promote uniformity in requirements of various authorities throughout the country. To do this it is necessary that the fire-resistive properties of materials and assemblies be measured and specified according to a common standard expressed in terms that are applicable alike to a wide variety of materials, situations, and conditions of exposure.
Such a standard is found in the test methods that follow. They prescribe a standard exposing fire of controlled extent and severity. Performance is defined as the period of resistance to standard exposure elapsing before the first critical point in behavior is observed. Results arc reported in units in which field exposures can be judged and expressed.
The test methods may be cited as the 4bStandard Fire Tests,” and the performance or exposure shall be expressed as 2-h”“6-h.”“½-h,” etc.
When a factor of safety exceeding that inherent in the test conditions is desired, a proportional increase should he made in the specified time-classification period.
4. Significance and Use
4.1 These test methods are intended to evaluate the duration for which the types of building elements noted in 1.1 contain a fire, retain their structural integrity, or exhibit both properties during a predetermined test exposure.
4.2 The test exposes a test specimen to a standard tire controlled to achieve specified temperatures throughout a specified time period. When required. the fire exposure is followed by the application of a specified standard fire hose stream applied in accordance with Practice E2226. The test provides a relative iiieasure of the fire-test-response of comparable building elements under these fire exposure conditions. The exposure is not representative of all fire conditions because conditions vary with changes in the amount, nature and distribution of fire loading, ventilation, compartment size and configuration, and heat sink characteristics of the compartment. Variation from the test conditions or test specimen construction.ASTM E119-12 pdf download.