Page 129 - Laboratorios, Equipos e Instalaciones en España disponibles para el Sector Ferroviario

LAB. COMBUSTION OF MATERIALS

GIDAI GROUP- E.T.S.I.I.T

UNIVERSITY OF CANTABRIA

DESCRIPTION AND GOALS OF THE ORGANISATION

This infrastructure is conceived to study fire dynamics and also the
characterization of materials in relation with their performance under fire.
With the aim to improve levels of fire safety in the society, an intensive and
long term partnership with several companies and institutions, nationally
and internationally, has been achieved. Our activity covers: design and
development of materials performance under fire, test and analyze smoke
movement in enclosed spaces, development of full-scale fire tests, fire
computer modeling, etc.

AREAS OF ACTIVITY
t Bench scale fire tests t Fire Computer Modeling
t Full scale fire tests t Thermography Analysis

t Thermal analysis tests
t Hot smoke tests

TEST FACILITIES, EQUIPMENT, TYPES OF TESTING AND/OR 53*"-4

Calorimetry Equipments:
* Cone Calorimetric and FTIR are employed in the railway sector in accordance with UNE-EN 45545-2: "Railway
applications. Fire protection on railway vehicles. Part 2: Requirements for fire behavior of materials and components."
* Room Corner Test is used for full scale fire tests (test of 3MW), according to ISO 9705.
* FPA (Fire Propagation Apparatus) used to determine the critical heat flux to ignition, thermal response parameters,
effective heat of combustion, chemical and convective heat release rate, fire spread rate, etc. It can also be used to
measure the average corrosion rate and smoke produced by combustion.
* A Mass Loss Calorimeter completes this singular research infrastructure, unique at a national level.
Thermal Analysis Equipments:
* Laser Flash Analysis (LFA) measures conductivity and thermal diffusivity of materials. It has a measuring range of
thermal conductivity between 0.1 and 2000 W/mK.
* Heat Flux Meter (HFM) obtains values of thermal conductivity in insulating materials, working in a range between
0.005 and 0.50 W/mK.
* Simultaneous Thermal Analysis (STA) combines the techniques of thermogravimetry and differential scanning
calorimetry. It works until 1500 °C, allowing to test a wide range of materials like ceramics, metals or ashes, among
others.
Additional Equipments:
* Equipment and measuring elements (thermocouples, heat flux gauges, air velocity meters, gas concentration
meters, IR camera, etc.) for full-scale fire tests.
* Hot Smoke Machine, which allows to study smoke movement in enclosed spaces.

ADDRESS CONTACT PERSON
Avda. Los Castros, s/n Daniel Alvear Portilla
39005 Santander. (Spain) Director Grupo GIDAI
Tel.: +34 94 220 18 26 Tel.: +34 94 220 18 26
www.gidai.unican.es Email: daniel.alvear@unican.es