The Fire Laboratory

About

This is the fire laboratory at the Department of Fire Safety Engineering, at Lund University, Sweden.

Story

The Department of Fire Safety Engineering is responsible for education and research in fire safety engineering.

Our scope of practice is interdisciplinary. The department is responsible for essential parts of the Fire Protection Engineering programme at bachelors level and the Fire Safety Engineering programme at masters level.

In addition, the department is responsible for the education of PhD students in the field of fire safety engineering.

In the laboratory we support the department in the training as well in the research. Basically this support consists of providing equipment for various practical experiments related to fire or phenomena related to fire, in the lab and the field.

The Fire Laboratory at the Division of Fire Safety Engineering at Lund University has a long history in fire science. The laboratory is primarily an educational lab but we also do research in the lab.

The standard measurements include measuring rate of heat release up to a maximum of approximately 300 kW (depending on product type, setup, etc.), which in most cases is sufficient for acquiring data for assessments of a product, for further calculations or as input for simulations. Examples of available equipment include
- Cone calorimeter (ISO 5660, ASTM E1354, ASTM E1474, ASTM E1740, ASTM F1550, ASTM D6113, CAN ULC 135 and BS 476 Part 15, amongst others)
- Micro combustion calorimeter
- Lateral ignition and flame spread apparatus (LIFT-apparatus: ISO 5658-2, IMO Resolution A.653(16), ASTM E 1317 and ASTM E 1321, amongst others)
- COI (Critical Oxygen Index: ASTM D 2863)
- Plunge test (RTI, Response Time Index in sprinkler heads: FM 3210)

Apart from this, we also have a variety of equipment such as a drying oven, equipment for measuring flammability level of air/gas-mixtures, spark ignitors, heat flux gauges, plate thermometers, pyrometers, thermocouples, a third-scale ISO 9075 room, and amuffle furnace. We have access to a workshop (for wood as well as for metal) and if needed we have cooperation with a professional mechanical workshop. Also, we have cooperation with the national fire academy in Revinge approximately 25 km east of Lund (MSB Revinge) where somewhat larger testing can be made, although with reduced measurement capability.

We do not have any accreditation as a laboratory but our testing might be very valuable for activities such as prototyping or for comparative testing. We specialize in costume-made setups or specific arrangements as need occurs and we put great pride in creative and ingenuity.