The Plate Thermometer- A Simple _

Instrument for Reaching Harmonized

Fire Resistance Tests
Ulf Wickström
Wickström is with the Swedish National Testing and Research Institute in Boräs,
Sweden.

Abstract
The measured fire resistance of a structure tested in different fumaces in accordance with ISO
834 may differ considerably. Similarly, the fire resistance of that same structure may be 25%
longer when tested in accordance with ISO than it is when tested in accordance with ASTM.
These anomalies complicate the evaluation of test results and must be eliminated to reach
harmonized international testing.
The heat transfer to a test specimen in a test furnace at high temperature depends primarily
on radiant flux rather than convection. Temperature measurement devices used to control
furnaces should therefore respond to this type of heating in a way similar to that in which test
specimens respond. They should have a large area so that the radiant heat transfer dominates,
and they must, at the same time, have a quick thermal response.
The plate thermometer is designed to have these properties. It consists of a thin steel plate,
100 mm by 100 mm and 0.7 mm thick, with an insulatir~g fiber board on one side. A
thermocouple is welded to the center of the plate. It should be placed in front of the specimen,
with the insulated side facing the specimen. The exposed side will then receive the same radiant
heat flux as the specimen.
This paper describes the plate thermometer and gives a basic theoretical analysis of the heat
transfer conditions in fumaces. Measurements with the plate thermometer in several fumaces
are also reported.

Heating Conditions Vary Between Furnaces

Fire resistance fumaces expose a specimen to heating conditions that differ even when
identical standards, such as ISO 834 or A S T M E119, are employed. These standards
prescribe the fumace gas temperature development that is to be followed during a test,
and the temperature is recorded by specified thermocouples that are placed in the
furnace near the specimen.
Several furnace parameters will influence heat transfer to the thermocouple and
thus the temperature reading. Therefore, the convective heat transfer rate depends on
the local gas velocity and the geometric size and form of the thermocouple bead. The
radiative heat transfer, on the other hand, varies with the radiation intensity of the
furnace gases, the size of the furnace, the presence of luminous flames in the furnace,

Keywords: Platetheimaometer,fite resistance,furnace,thermocouple.

196 Fire Technology Second Quarter 1994

and the wall temperature. The wall temperature depends, in turn, on the thermal inertia
of the material lining the furnace wall.
The specimen is much larger than the thermocouple bead and is therefore relatively
more sensitive to radiation exposure than a thermocouple of the kind prescribed in ISO
834 or ASTM E119. Thus, furnaces are controlled according to convective condi-
tions, while specimens are sensitive to radiative conditions. The thermal exposure of
a specimen during a test may therefore vary eren if the same specified time-
temperature relation is followed.
To avoid this problem, the author [,-~suggests using the so-called "plate thermom-
eter" (PT) for measuring and controlling furnace temperature (see Figure 1). The PT
has a relatively large area, 100 mm by 100 mm, making it less sensitive to convective
heat transfer-that is, local gas temperature and velocity-but relatively more sensitive
to radiative heat transfer in a way that is similar to that of the specimen. The plate is
only 0.7 mm thick to get a quick thermal response to changes in heating conditions.

~u"°rtin'a"p~°tI~ecti"*ube
/
J

L m

Frontside

Ceramic
T/Cwelded fiberboard
to plate /

1O0 m m

10 m m

100 m m

Side view Back slde

Figure 1. The p l a t e t h e r m o m e t e r is m a d e of one p i e c e of

Inconel 6 0 0 steel p l a t e that is 0 . 7 mm thick. Its back side is
insulated to protect it from direct r a d i a t i v e impact from the
specimen.