Determination of Failure Criteria for Suspended Ceiling Tile Systems and Thermal Resistance Provided Prior to Failure

Abstract

The use of suspended ceiling tile systems has become popular in modern construction; however, fire performance data for these systems has not followed this trend. There currently is a lack of credible fire performance test data for non-rated ceiling tile systems (NCTS). This study seeks to explore failure criteria for NCTS, and thermal resistance provided prior to failure.

As part of this research, a testing apparatus was constructed to evaluate the performance of the NCTS with respect to the fire location, distance between the NCTS and a fire, and tile arrangements within the NCTS. Testing results were then compared against numerical model predictions of the observed temperatures.

The results demonstrated that the NCTS provides a measurable level of thermal resistance during a fire and maintains its integrity for several minutes. Furthermore, it was shown that testing results can be generally represented using the numerical model.