Fire Engineering Research Report 02/3

In the past, many tests have been conducted to investigate the response of fire protection features such as sprinkler and smoke detector. Specifically designed apparatus have been designed for conducting such tests. For instance the plunge test apparatus and the FE/DE apparatus. The intent of this research is to construct a bench-scale wind tunnel, which integrates the common features between the plunge test apparatus and FE/DE apparatus so that sprinkler and smoke detector can be tested using the same apparatus. The scope of this report covers the design of the wind tunnel, and the selection of the individual component (test section, heating element, comers, dampers etc.). Several issues concerning the design and selection of the individual component are identified and discussed. These include the difficulties in finding a fan which would meet the design requirements (airflow velocity up to 2.5 m/s at a maximum of 300°C operating temperature) at the test section, as well as the trade-off between selecting a high temperature rated fan and a high power rated heating element. Owing to a lack of time, the performance of the wind tunnel is not assessed. However, recommendations are given as how the wind tunnel's performance should be assessed in meeting the design requirements