Working toward the creation of a national reference for environmental protection and risk prevention for logistics buildings, a working group has been forged to launch a campaign of fire tests and develop applicable methodology. The project has been christened Flumilog and federates several partners, including Ineris, CNPP, CTICM, ArcelorMittal, SCMF, Afilog, Cibex, Michelin, Kuehne+Nagel, Proudreed and GSE. The project currently seeks to determine the distances at which a warehouse fire impacts the environment, a basic element of environmental impact studies.
The development work leading to this calculation method has been performed by the Ineris, CNPP and CTICM laboratories, recognized for their fire engineering expertise. They have analysed the currently applied calculation methods and the latest research results to develop a theoretical model which is currently being validated by a medium- and large-scale real test program.
September 18th: a successful test!
This test program has started with the mid-scale test which took place on 18 September 2007 in a 100-m² GSE-built warehouse, deliberately set on fire to study the influence of the fire load on flame geometry and to validate, by experimentation and measurements, the calculation model for the distances of the fire’s thermal effect.
Three large-scale tests on an 800-m² platform are scheduled by late 2007 to study the influence of the scale factor.
This method of calculating the thermal effects will enable better design and dimensioning of storage-dedicated infrastructures, in particular the heat screens, optimise logistics platform layout on the land, simplify the preparation and processing of operating authorisation files, and improve safety.
The results will be used to improve regulations in 2008.
To perform its large-scale testing, Flumilog is actively seeking new partners to participate in the funding and performance of the research work, which will improve environmental and human protection and safety, and simplify the compulsory administrative authorisations logistics professionals must obtain to operate a platform.
This test program has started with the mid-scale test which took place on 18 September 2007 in a 100-m² GSE-built warehouse, deliberately set on fire to study the influence of the fire load on flame geometry and to validate, by experimentation and measurements, the calculation model for the distances of the fire’s thermal effect.