Create your own test. Light a controlled fire like a pan of heptane or alcohol in the space with the lycra installed and see what happens with just overhead sprinklers. Find some local FPE's or arson investigators to help they'd love it. Could find a warehouse with an 18' ceiling if they don't want to use the new building. Scale is important so don't go with an 8' FD burn house.
Chris Cahill, P.E. Fire Protection Engineer Sentry Fire Protection, Inc. 763-658-4483 763-658-4921 fax Email: [email protected] Mail: P.O. Box 69 Waverly, MN 55390 Location: 4439 Hwy 12 SW Waverly, MN 55390 -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Allan Seidel Sent: Wednesday, April 15, 2009 5:26 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Is there test information that shows whether or not obstructing lycrafabric ceiling elements are an issue? The interiors architect plans to populate an open structure ceiling condition with many Lycra "kites" stretched horizontal at 11 foot in an 18 foot ceiling deck area above a light hazard space. The kite sizes are many times larger than 48" and there are so many of these in an overlapping pattern that one cannot even start to argue that these are not gross obstructions. Conditions are such that is not possible to install sprinklers underneath the fabric without penetrating vertically through the fabric. The architect wants to convince the AHJ that the Lycra will "disappear" in a fire condition, citing the fact that none of the product installation photos show sprinklers. Is there test information that shows whether or not obstructing, horizontal Lycra fabric ceiling elements are or are not an issue for sprinklers. One would assume such tests would indicate fabric thickness, installed tension and other factors. This question will be posed to the manufacturer. If anyone would know something about it, it is probably someone on this forum. One can make up all sorts of plausible things the Lycra might do in fire condition but nothing would compare to some actual tests. Looking at this another way, is there merit in insisting the design area be large enough to include all the kites in a plausible event area, perhaps with a 30% penalty, and if so should the application rate be increased? Is there supporting information for that line of thinking? It would be nice to propose a defensible equivalency to the missing protection other than sales brochures where the sprinkler protection has been photoshopped out. Allan Seidel St. Louis, MO _______________________________________________ Sprinklerforum mailing list http://lists.firesprinkler.org/mailman/listinfo/sprinklerforum For Technical Assistance, send an email to: [email protected] To Unsubscribe, send an email to:[email protected] (Put the word unsubscribe in the subject field) _______________________________________________ Sprinklerforum mailing list http://lists.firesprinkler.org/mailman/listinfo/sprinklerforum For Technical Assistance, send an email to: [email protected] To Unsubscribe, send an email to:[email protected] (Put the word unsubscribe in the subject field)
