Development of conetools for the Euroclasses of cables

Within the newly decided scheme for CE-marking of cables1 a full-scale fire test for cables (prEN503992) has been introduced. The new test measures heat and smoke production rates and flame spread and in some cases requires large amounts of cables. In the project presented here a modelling tool was developed to predict full-scale results using data from the small-scale fire test Cone Calorimeter. A fire test data base containing test data from cables with different materials and constructions was created as basis for the development. The model is based on the ConeTools3 model for wall and ceiling linings,
using fire area growth functions in full scale and the Duhamel integral principle. The results show an acceptable level of accuracy both in simulating the heat release curve and the Euroclass for the cable test data that is available and it has shown to be useful as a screening tool to quickly evaluate small differences in e.g. sheath compounds.