Thermo-physical performance of a fire protective coating for naval ship structures

A novel engineered intumescent fire protective coating system is modeled herein and evaluated vis  -a`-vis the structural fire integrity of Naval ship structures. The model accounts for the fully nonlinear, temperature dependent, evolution of heat conductivity and specific heat of the coating material that undergoes a continuous, and concurrent, phase transition from virgin to intumesced to charred material. Relevant thermo-physical properties including, material expansion, thermal conductivity, and specific heat are determined as functions of temperature and used to analyze validation experiments conducted on aluminum substrates protected by the coatings and subject to heat fluxes in a cone calorimeter. The results indicate that our model is both accurate and is thus an effective tool for analysis of the effect of such coatings in controlling temperature profiles and is an effective tool for designing fire protection using this new generation of coatings.