Global modelling of fire protection performance of intumescent coating under different cone calorimeter heating conditions

This paper presents a mathematical model to simulate the expansion process and global behaviour of intumescent coating applied to a steel plate under different cone calorimeter heating conditions. A mathematical expression has been found to relate the local rate of expansion of intumescent coating to the local rate of mass loss, rate of temperature change and temperature. Comparing the recorded expansion process of intumescent coating under cone calorimeter heating exposure, this modelling method has been found to give accurate results of the expansion–time relationship for the product tested. The thermal conductivity of expanding intumescent coating was modelled based on treating intumescent coating as a homogeneous porous media. The predicted steel temperatures were found to be in excellent agreement with experimental results from the cone calorimeter tests with different steel plate thicknesses and intumescent coating thicknesses under two different heat fluxes.

► First major study of detailed behaviour of intumescent coating under different heating conditions.
► Development of a predictive model for intumescent coating expansion process.
► Validation of the model for different heating conditions.
► Model suitable for performance-based fire engineering applications.