Fire Engineering Laboratory

The fire engineering laboratory is located on 10/F of the Z Block. There are three fire chambers (two of size 4m by 3m by 3m and one of size 6 m by 3 m by 3 m) for full-scale burning tests.

Three fire chambers with ventilation systems are provided to perform tests on force ventilation fire, sprinkler spray pattern, water discharge density, droplet size measurement, water mist fire and wind tunnels. Other experimental facilities are provided to perform tests on sprinklers, full-scale burning, smoke control and standard fire tests of building materials. A cone calorimeter is available for test of heat released rate.

Fire protection systems including sprinkler system, water mist system, fire detection systems and smoke extraction systems are installed for studying the system performance.

Apparatus are provided for students to perform standard fire tests on materials on the ease of ignitability, fire propagation index and critical oxygen index.

A wind tunnel was developed for evaluating the thermal sensitivities of sprinkler heads and fire detectors.

Besides the facilities for fire experiments, the fire engineering laboratory also provides experimental rigs for plumbing and drainage experiments.

Pump sets and water piping networks are setup for students to study pipe flow properties, water balancing and pump operation characteristics.

Drainage experiments are also provided for students to study self-siphonage effects in drainage systems.