Knowing the fire behaviour of roofs is important when deciding on the fire safety strategy and risk analysis for buildings. Consequently appropriate fire test methods, which provide information about the fire behaviour of roofs, are needed. Over the years many different test methods have been developed which address the fire behaviour of roofs. Some are developed by national standardisation organisations such as ASTM in the US or DIN in Germany while others are developed by the insurance industry. For each test method the results are linked to the fire scenario, which the test method is attempting to simulate. Some of the existing test methods focus only on surface spread of flame on the top of the roof, others address both surface spread of flame and penetration of fire from above, as well as the issue of fire spreading through the roofing system when exposed to a fire from within the building. This paper provides a thorough review of fire test methods for roof assemblies, which currently are available in Europe and North America. The underlying fire scenario, the test parameters and the test results will be discussed.
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