Fire Endurance Testing of Fiberglass Piping

The U.S. Coast Guard has conducted fire endurance tests on several types of fiberglass reinforced plastic piping FGP as well as other common piping materials. The test piping, including joints and fittings, was exposed to large hydrocarbon pool fires Phase 1, propane flames from a multi-burner array Phase 2, and simulated localized machinery space fires Phase 3. Test objectives included the following 1 to investigate FGP fire endurance under various conditions when exposed to large hydrocarbon fuel fires, 2 to evaluate FGP fire endurance test methods being considered by the International Maritime Organization IMO, 3 to obtain temperature and heat flux data representative of real shipboard fires involving hydrocarbon fuels, and 4 to compare the fire endurance of FGP with that of other common piping materials in the same fire conditions. Conclusions derived from the tests include 1 joints are the weakest link in FGP systems, 2 seal failure caused by a fire can destroy the integrity of FGP or metal piping even though the pipe itself remains intact, and 3 when FGP contains flowing water, its fire endurance can be increased significantly FGP, Machinery space fires, Fiberglass piping, IACS Tests, Fire endurance tests, Machinery fire tests, Hydrocarbon pool fires, Deck fire tests, Propane burner tests