ASTM E603-17
Standard Guide for Room Fire Experiments

Standard No.

ASTM E603-17

Release Date

2017

Published By

American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM)

Status

Be replaced

Replace By

ASTM E603-23

Latest

ASTM E603-23

Scope

1.1 This guide addresses means of conducting full-scale fire experiments that evaluate the fire-test-response characteristics of materials, products, or assemblies under actual fire conditions. 1.2 It is intended as a guide for the design of the experiment and for the use and interpretation of its results. The guide is also useful for establishing laboratory conditions that simulate a given set of fire conditions to the greatest extent possible. 1.3 This guide allows users to obtain fire-test-response characteristics of materials, products, or assemblies, which are useful data for describing or appraising their fire performance under actual fire conditions. 1.3.1 The results of experiments conducted in accordance with this guide are also useful elements for making regulatory decisions regarding fire safety requirements. The use for regulatory purposes of data obtained from experiments conducted using this guide requires that certain conditions and criteria be specified by the regulating authority. 1.4 The rationale for conducting room fire experiments in accordance with this guide is shown in 1.5 – 1.8. 1.5 Room fire experiments are a means of generating input data for computer fire models and for providing output data with which to compare modeling results. 1.6 One of the major reasons for conducting room fire experiments is as an experimental means of assessing the potential fire hazard associated with the use of a material or product in a particular application. This should be borne in mind when designing nonstandard experiments. 1.7 A rationale for conducting room fire experiments is the case when smaller-scale fire tests inadequately represent enduse applications. 1.8 A further rationale for conducting room fire experiments is to verify the results obtained with smaller scale tests, to understand the scaling parameters for such tests. 1.9 Room fire tests can be placed into four main categories: reconstruction, simulation, research, and standardization. 1.10 This standard is used to measure and describe the response of materials, products, or assemblies to heat and flame under controlled conditions, but does not by itself incorporate all factors required for fire hazard or fire risk assessment of the materials, products, or assemblies under actual fire conditions 1 This guide is under the jurisdiction of ASTM Committee E05 on Fire Standards and is the direct responsibility of Subcommittee E05.21 on Smoke and Combustion Products. Current edition approved July 1, 2017. Published July 2017. Originally approved in 1977. Last previous edition approved in 2013 as E603 13. DOI: 10.1520/E060317. Copyright © ASTM International, 100 Barr Harbor Drive, PO Box C700, West Conshohocken, PA 19428-2959. United States This international standard was developed in accordance with internationally recognized principles on standardization established in the Decision on Principles for the Development of International Standards, Guides and Recommendations issued by the World Trade Organization Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) Committee. 1 1.11 This standard does not purport to address all of the safety concerns, if any, associated with its use. It is the responsibility of the user of this standard to establish appropriate safety and health practices and determine the applicability of regulatory limitations prior to use. 1.12 This international standard was developed in accordance with internationally recognized principles on standardization established in the Decision on Principles for the Development of International Standards, Guides and Recommendations issued by the World Trade Organization Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) Committee.

ASTM E603-17 Referenced Document

• ASTM D4442 Standard Test Methods for Direct Moisture Content Measurement of Wood and Wood-Base Materials
• ASTM D4444 Standard Test Methods for Use and Calibration of Hand-Held Moisture Meters
• ASTM D5424 Standard Test Method for Smoke Obscuration of Insulating Materials Contained in Electrical or Optical Fiber Cables When Burning in a Vertical Cable Tray Configuration
• ASTM D5537 Standard Test Method for Heat Release, Flame Spread and Mass Loss Testing of Insulating Materials Contained in Electrical or Optical Fiber Cables When Burning in a Vertical Cable Tray Configuration
• ASTM E1321 Standard Test Method for Determining Material Ignition and Flame Spread Properties
• ASTM E1354 Standard Test Method for Heat and Visible Smoke Release Rates for Materials and Products Using an Oxygen Consumption Calorimeter
• ASTM E1355 Standard Guide for Evaluating the Predictive Capability of Deterministic Fire Models
• ASTM E1537 Standard Test Method for Fire Testing of Real Scale Upholstered Furniture
• ASTM E1590 Standard Test Method for Fire Testing of Mattresses
• ASTM E176 Standard Terminology of Fire Standards
• ASTM E1822 Standard Test Method for Fire Testing of Stacked Chairs*， 2021-11-15 Update
• ASTM E2067 Standard Practice for Full-Scale Oxygen Consumption Calorimetry Fire Tests*， 2023-11-01 Update
• ASTM E2257 Standard Test Method for Room Fire Test of Wall and Ceiling Materials and Assemblies*， 2022-04-01 Update
• ASTM E3057 Standard Test Method for Measuring Heat Flux Using Directional Flame Thermometers with Advanced Data Analysis Techniques*， 2019-06-01 Update
• ASTM E800 Standard Guide for Measurement of Gases Present or Generated During Fires
• ASTM E906 Standard Test Method for Heat and Visible Smoke Release Rates for Materials and Products
• ISO 13943 Fire safety — Vocabulary*， 2023-09-01 Update
• ISO 9705 Fire tests; full-scale room test for surface products; technical corrigendum 1
• ISO/IEC 17025 General requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories [Standard in French]*， 2017-11-01 Update

ASTM E603-17 history

• 2023 ASTM E603-23 Standard Guide for Room Fire Experiments
• 2017 ASTM E603-17 Standard Guide for Room Fire Experiments
• 2013 ASTM E603-13 Standard Guide for Room Fire Experiments
• 2012 ASTM E603-12b Standard Guide for Room Fire Experiments
• 2012 ASTM E603-12a Standard Guide for Room Fire Experiments
• 2012 ASTM E603-12 Standard Guide for Room Fire Experiments
• 2007 ASTM E603-07 Standard Guide for Room Fire Experiments
• 2006 ASTM E603-06e1 Standard Guide for Room Fire Experiments
• 2006 ASTM E603-06 Standard Guide for Room Fire Experiments
• 2004 ASTM E603-04 Standard Guide for Room Fire Experiments
• 2003 ASTM E603-03 Standard Guide for Room Fire Experiments
• 2001 ASTM E603-01 Standard Guide for Room Fire Experiments
• 1998 ASTM E603-98a Standard Guide for Room Fire Experiments