Allan, There are way too many question on this stuff. What is really going to happen with that arrangement in a fire situation? Will the fabric more likely start to deteriorate directly above the fire or along the ceiling jet? If one area starts to go, how will the rest of the panel react? How it reacts could be dependent on how quickly the temperature goes from 113 to 374. Are the panels treated with a fire retardant? That could change the whole characteristic. How will he angle of the panels impact the panel under fire load? Will enough burn or melt away to eliminate the obstruction issue? How will sprinkler discharge impact the melting of the panels and thus the obstruction issue? Where will heat actually collect?
I wouldn't put my stamp on anything having to do with this, unless some hard answers showed up on how this is going to react. This may be another situation that cannot be protected by sprinklers. There are a lot of similarities between this and the old ceiling cloud situation. I don't see anything you could bring to the Fire Marshal that wouldn't be a crap shoot. At 11:17 AM 4/16/2009, you wrote: >What I have learned so far is that Lycra is strong polyurethane fiber >segments joined with stretchy (soft) polyester or polyether fiber segments. >The amounts of each varies with the blend. The polyurethane provides the >mechanical body to the fiber while the other stuff provides the elasticity. >The elasticity is constant in the range from 50F to 113F which is why it >works well for clothing. Beyond 113F up to about 356F (depending on the >blend) it contracts to 15% of what it was at 113F. Somewhere near 374F the >polyester/polyether parts turns plastic and melt. The fiber breaks at that >point. There is nothing to connect the polyurethane fibers to each other. >Incidentally, the solvent dimethyl acetamide is used to make the stuff and >some remains in the fiber after manufacture. It is the buyer's >responsibility (the mill I guess) to keep the product ventilated enough >while the residual solvent concentration is still at hazardous levels. > >One might say the kites would tighten up as they are in the shrinkage >temperature range assuming that they are not being cooled by sprinkler spray >faster than what is heating them up and they would rip apart at that 374F >temperature range. Based on that assumption, would increasing the design >area by 30%, as in delayed water-to-fire situations and also increasing the >application rate to OH1 be a logical fire protection approach to this >situation to bring to the Fire Marshall? > >Thanks again for your comments, >Allan Seidel >St. Louis, MO >_______________________________________________ >Sprinklerforum mailing list >http://lists.firesprinkler.org/mailman/listinfo/sprinklerforum >For Technical Assistance, send an email to: techsupp...@firesprinkler.org > >To Unsubscribe, send an email to:sprinklerforum-requ...@firesprinkler.org >(Put the word unsubscribe in the subject field) Todd G. Williams, PE Fire Protection Design/Consulting Stonington, Connecticut www.fpdc.com 860.535.2080 _______________________________________________ Sprinklerforum mailing list http://lists.firesprinkler.org/mailman/listinfo/sprinklerforum For Technical Assistance, send an email to: techsupp...@firesprinkler.org To Unsubscribe, send an email to:sprinklerforum-requ...@firesprinkler.org (Put the word unsubscribe in the subject field)
