DIN Standards Committee Building and Civil Engineering
DIN EN 1363-1
Fire resistance tests - Part 1: General Requirements; German version EN 1363-1:2012
Feuerwiderstandsprüfungen - Teil 1: Allgemeine Anforderungen; Deutsche Fassung EN 1363-1:2012
Overview
This European Standard establishes the general principles for determining the fire resistance of various elements of construction when subjected to standard fire exposure conditions. Alternative and additional procedures to meet special requirements are given in DIN EN 1363-2. The principle that has been embodied within all European Standards relating to fire resistance testing is that where aspects and procedures of testing are common to all specific test methods, for example, the temperature/time curve, they are specified in this test method. Where a general principle is common to many specific test methods but the details vary according to the element being tested (for example, the measurement of unexposed face temperature), this principle is given in this standard, but the details are given in the specific test method. Where certain aspects of testing are unique to a particular specific test method, for example, the air leakage test for fire dampers, no details are included in this document. The objective of determining fire resistance is to assess the behaviour of a specimen of an element of building construction when subjected to defined heating and pressure conditions. The method provides a means of quantifying the ability of an element to withstand exposure to high temperatures; it does so by setting criteria against which the loadbearing capacity, the fire containment (integrity) and the thermal transmittance (insulation) functions amongst other characteristics can be evaluated. A representative sample of the element is exposed to a specified regime of heating and the performance of the test specimen is monitored on the basis of criteria described in the standard. Fire resistance of the test element is expressed as the time for which the appropriate criteria have been satisfied. The times so obtained are a measure of the adequacy of the construction in a fire; but they have no direct relationship with the duration time of a real fire. The following modifications have been made with respect to DIN EN 1363-1:1999-10: a) commencement of the fire test (as previously for DIN tests) by turning on the burners instead of the time when 50 °C is reached at one position of the combustion chamber; b) distance of the object thermocouples on the cold side to joints and edges: 20 mm (instead of the previous 15 mm); c) slight modification of the panel thermocouple; d) standard editorially revised; e) normative references supplemented and updated; f) clause 3 "Terms and definitions" revised; g) 4.5 revised; h) 7.2.2 revised; i) Table 1 supplemented in 7.2.2.4; j) clause 10 revised; k) clause 12 revised, test report in short form removed; l) Figures 2 and 5 supplemented. This document has been prepared with German collaboration by CEN/TC 127 "Fire safety in buildings", the secretariat of which is held by BSI (United Kingdom). The committee responsible for this standard at DIN is NA 005-52-02 AA "Brandverhalten von Baustoffen und Bauteilen - Bauteile (SpA zu CEN/TC 127/WG 1 sowie Teilbereichen von CEN/TC 127/WG 7 und ISO/TC 92/SC 2)" ("Fire performance of building materials and building elements - Building elements (mirror committee of parts of CEN/TC 127/WG 7 und ISO/TC 92/SC 2)").
