What is BS EN 1364-1 - Fire resistance of non-loadbearing walls about?
BS EN 1364 is a series of the European standard on fire resistance tests for non-loadbearing elements when exposed to heating conditions.
BS EN 1364-1 is the first part of the BS EN 1364 series of documents that specifies a method for determining the fire resistance of non-loadbearing walls.
BS EN 1364-1 is applicable to internal non-loadbearing walls (partitions), with and without glazing, non-loadbearing walls consisting almost wholly of glazing (glazed non-loadbearing walls) and other non-loadbearing internal and external non-loadbearing walls with and without glazing.
The fire resistance of external non-loadbearing walls can be determined under internal or external exposure conditions. In the latter case, the external fire exposure curve given in EN 1363-2 is used.
Specific requirements for testing glazed elements or non-loadbearing walls incorporating glazing are given in Annex A.
Specific requirements relating to the testing of non-loadbearing external and internal walls designed to span horizontally between two independently proven fire-resisting vertical structural elements are given in Annex B.
Note: BS EN 1364-1 is not applicable to:
- Curtain walls (external non-loadbearing walls suspended in front of the floor slab), unless explicitly permitted under EN 1364-3 or EN 1364-4 which contain details of the methodology to be used.
- Non-loadbearing walls containing door assemblies that are tested according to EN 1634-1.
Who is BS EN 1364-1 - Fire resistance of non-loadbearing walls for?
BS EN 1364-1 on the non-loadbearing wall is useful for:
- Builders and architects
- Civil engineers
- Manufacturers of non-loadbearing elements
Why should you use BS EN 1364-1 - Fire resistance of non-loadbearing walls?
The non-loadbearing wall is a wall designed not to be subject to any load other than its self-weight.
BS EN 1364-1 provides the requirements on test equipment, test conditions and test specimen to determine the fire resistance of non-loadbearing walls, their designing, construction and verification.
BS EN 1364-1 navigates you through the installation and conditioning of the test specimen.
BS EN 1364-1 determines the application of instrumentation that includes thermocouples, pressure, deflection, radiation and impact.
The test procedure, performance criteria of the test specimen and test report are all outlined in BS EN 1364-1.
Overall, BS EN 1364-1 guides you through the fire resistance test methods to measure the ability of a representative specimen of a non-loadbearing wall to resist the spread of fire from one side to another.
In this manner, testing the fire resistance of a building element involves determining its behaviour when exposed to a particular heating condition and pressure, normally those representing fire in an enclosed space, e.g., a room.
What’s changed since the last update?
BS EN 1364-1:2015 supersedes BS EN 1364-1:1999. BS EN 1364-1:2015 includes some technical changes with respect to BS EN 1364-1:1999. These include:
- Locations of thermocouples are modified in line with the definitions in EN 1363-1
- Additional deflections measurements for larger constructions
- Additional thermocouples on glazed constructions
- Additional rules in the field of direct application for glazed constructions (Annex A)
- Rules for testing non-loadbearing external and internal walls designed to span horizontally (Annex B).