2011 Volume 30 Issue 1 Pages 27-44
Current Japanese building standards dictate that with regard to fire protection for the exterior façade walls of buildings, the only matter for consideration is “fire-resistive performance,” which is constituted of stability, integrity and insulation. There are no evaluations of fire propagation along combustible material installed on the external sides of walls, even though combustion of external cladding could cause accelerated fire propagation along exterior façade walls. In this study, the authors have proposed a test method for evaluation of fire propagation along combustible cladding, and test specimens produced in reference to façade walls with exterior thermal insulation were burned in order to demonstrate the application of the method.