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Topics of Interest
Prysmian is investing in Safety and decided to organize this site to enable
the diffusion of scientific knowledge to all Electricity Professionals, Opinion Leaders,
Authorities and End-Users so they can be updated and act with coherence in the European Common
Market.
This part of the site is intended to provide a coherent framework to evaluate the
contribution of cables to safety during fire:
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starting form the physiological effects of smoke and gases which are the real
threat in case of fire
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confirming that it is possible to evaluate the threat generated by combustion
products through modern techniques (FTIR) for measuring the composition of the gases cocktail
(quantity and quality) of the effluent during the development of a fire
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revealing that the acidity parameter present in the Euroclassification of cables was shown to be a
good predictor of irritant effects when compared with the FEC index calculated from effluents
measured as above |
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showing the threats in case of fire by simulating with modern computing the
diffusion of combustion products in a building and the behavior of occupants in case of a fire
alarm
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finally illustrating that the adoption of low fire hazard cables could
significantly reduce the fire hazard
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The last part of this section is dedicated to
Hazard of combustion
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| The target of this paper is to provide scientific bases to the statement
(manifest, but generic) that the main cause of injury and death in fires is incapacitation
resulting from exposure to fire effluent (smoke and gases). During fires, physiological effects
dominate and determine time to incapacitation. The sequence of physiological hazards in developing
fires can be applied to fire safety engineering design of buildings and to the evaluation of
products for use in them using appropriate calculation methods for assessment of time to
incapacitation. (Courtesy Europacable) |
Physiological effects of combustion products and fire hazard assessment by Professor David
A. Purser
(323 KB)
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Smoke and Acidity
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| The acidity parameter has been used for many years by the cable industry to
indicate the corrosive potential of effluents from burning cables. This research revealed that this
parameter was shown to be a good predictor of irritant effects compared with the FEC index
calculated from effluent measurements by FTIR.
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Investigation into the smoke effluents of burning cables” by Silvio Messa
(199 KB)
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Escape Simulation
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| Other studies have clarified that gases and smoke are the real threat in case
of fire, that it is possible to measure cable fire emissions with modern techniques (FTIR), that
acidity is a good predictor of irritant effects of cable emissions. It is now necessary to
investigate the correlation between these parameters and cable applications. Thanks to modern
computing it is possible to measure the threats in case of fire by simulating the diffusion of
combustion products in a building and the behavior of occupants in case of a fire alarm. The
University of Lund conducted a study using input data from the measurement of components of
combustion made using the prEN50399 fire test scenario and found that the adoption of non
halogenated cables could significantly reduce the fire hazard.
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Simulation of critical evacuation conditions for a fire scenario involving cables and
comparison of two different cables” by Patrick van Hees and Daniel Nilsson
(499 KB)
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Construction Products Directive
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