U.S. DEPARTMENT

OF COMMERCE

TECHNOLOGY

ADMINISTRATION

National Institute

of Standards and

Technology

NISTIR 6088 Data Structures

for the Fire Data

Management

System, FDMS 2.0

Rebecca W. Portier

Richard D. Peacock

Paul A. Reneke
NISTIR 6088 Data Structures for the

Fire Data Management

System, FDMS 2.0

Rebecca W. Portier

Richard D. Peacock

Paul A. Reneke

Building and Fire Research Laboratory

National Institute of Standards and Technology

Gaithersburg, MD 20899

November 1997

Sponsored in part by

Standard Reference Data Program

National Institute of Standards and Technology

Gaithersburg, MD 20899

U.S. Department of Commerce

William M. Daley, Secretary

Technology Administration

Gary R. Bachula, Acting Under Secretary for Technology

National Institute of Standards and Technology

Robert E. Hebner, Acting Director
Bibliographic Information

Abstract

Fire Data Management System, FDMS, is a design for a computer database to store and retrieve

fire test results obtained from bench-scale and real-scale tests as well as fire simulation programs. 

By storing available fire test values in a common format, this data is readily available and easily

exchanged. This guide provides detailed descriptions of the physical data structures for the next

generation of the database, FDMS 2.0

Key words

Computers; databases; cone calorimeters; data sets; experiments; fire tests; furniture

calorimeters; information storage; information retrieval

Ordering Information

Copies of this document are available from the National Technical Information Service,

Springfield, VA 22161
v

CONTENTS

1 Database Design ............................................................1

1.1 Introduction 1

1.2 Logical Views of the Database Design 2

1.3 Entity-Relationship Diagrams and Entity-Attribute Diagrams 2

1.4 Fire Professionals and Affiliated Organizations 5

1.5 Fire Test Products 6

1.6 Fire Test Measurements 8

1.7 Fire Test Methods 9

1.8 Fire Test Results 11

1.9 Instrumentation Types 12

1.10 Laboratory Instrumentation 14

1.11 FDMS Conceptual View 15

2 Physical Structure of a FDMS Database . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

2.1 Derivation of Physical Files 17

2.2 Physical Database File Formats 17

2.3 Fire Professionals and Affiliated Organizations 19

2.3.1 ORGANISE 19

2.3.2 ORGNOTES 19

2.3.3 PEOPLE 19

2.3.4 PERNOTES 20

2.3.5 AFFILIAT 20

2.3.6 AFFNOTES 20

2.4 Fire Test Products 21

2.4.1 PRODUCT 21

2.4.2 PRODNOTE 21

2.4.3 PRODBASE 21

2.4.4 PRODSUPP 22

2.5 Fire Test Measurements 22

2.5.1 BASEMEAS 22

2.5.2 DRVDBASE 22

2.5.3 DRVDMEAS 23

2.5.4 DRVDNOTE 23

2.5.5 Initial Installation Data 23

2.6 Fire Test Methods 33

2.6.1 METHOD 34

2.6.2 METHMEAS 35

2.6.3 METHACQU 35

2.6.4 METHDOC 35

2.6.5 METHNOTE 35

2.6.6 METHCOND 36
vi

2.6.7 DOCUMENT 36

2.6.8 DOCNOTE 36

2.6.9 Initial Installation Data 37

2.7 Fire Test Results 42

2.7.1 TEST 44

2.7.2 TSTINSTR 44

2.7.3 TESTPROD 45

2.7.4 TESTCOND 45

2.7.5 TESTMEAS 46

2.7.6 TSTMEASV 46

2.7.7 TESTNOTE 46

2.7.8 TESTDOC 46

2.7.9 TESTCVOL 47

2.7.10 SUMMARY 47

2.8 Instrumentation Types 48

2.8.1 INSTRUM 48

2.8.2 INSTRBAS 48

2.8.3 INSTRNOT 48

2.8.4 Initial Installation Data 48

2.9 Laboratory Instrumentation 49

2.9.1 INSTRUM 49

2.9.2 INSTRBAS 49

2.9.3 INSTRNOT 50

2.9.4 CALIB 50

2.9.5 CALIBNOT 50

2.9.6 CHOICE 50

3 FDMS File Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

4 FDMS Field Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

5 FDMS Export Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

5.1 Test General Description 69

5.2 Test Conditions 70

5.3 Test Products 71

5.4 Test Notes 72

5.5 Supplementary File Information 72

5.6 Scalar Test Measures 73

5.7 Vector Test Measures 74

5.8 Example FDMS Exchange Files 76

5.9 Preparing Data in FDMS Exchange Format 77

6 Review Criteria for FDMS Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
vii

7 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Appendix A Sample Cone Calorimeter FDMS Exchange File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
viii
*

 Present address: Chevy Chase, F.S.B, 8401 Connecticut Ave., Chevy Chase, MD.

1

Data Structures for the Fire Data Management System,

FDMS 2.0

Rebecca W. Portier*, Richard D. Peacock, and Paul A. Reneke

Building and Fire Research Laboratory

National Institute of Standards and Technology

1 Database Design

1.1 Introduction

A unified method of accessing data is valuable to both experimental and modeling efforts in the

development of the science of fire. For experimentalists, easy to use data organization and

retrieval tools facilitate analysis of the data. For modelers, access to experimental data is

important for both model input and evaluation of the predictive capability of the models. FDMS,

the Fire Data Management System [1], is a design for a computer database for organizing and

presenting fire data obtained from bench-scale and real-scale tests as well as fire simulation

programs. By storing available fire test values in a common format, this data is readily useable

and easily exchanged.

The goal for FDMS is to provide access to a database of test values generated from a variety of

sources within the fire community. The FDMS provides an open file design that will easily

accommodate future test apparatus formats. The FDMS concept is not limited by computer

platforms, computer languages, or data inflexibilities.

An initial attempt at providing a FDMS database was begun under the direction of the Fire

Research Station according to the design proposed by Babrauskas, Janssens, Peacock, and Batho

[2],[3]. The resulting software, FDMS 1.0 [4], provides for storage and retrieval of Cone

Calorimeter and Furniture Calorimeter test data. After completion of the analysis of FDMS 1.0, it

was determined that a redesign of the physical file formats was necessary to accommodate

additional test methods. Technical documentation [5] providing details for proposed database

file formats was generated as the first step in this second stage of development. This report

contains details of the technical data structure design including modifications necessary for

implementation of an Internet database implementation of the FDMS. 
2

1.2 Logical Views of the Database Design

In order to accurately design a computer database, it is essential that all potential views of the

data be evaluated first. A database of fire data could be accessed for a variety of queries other

than the results of known fire tests. For example, a list of professional fire organizations might

be desired, or within a laboratory, a technician might require the calibration history for a

particular instrument. It is necessary to determine all potential views, and the data relevant for

each, prior to the design of the physical file structures. At this design level, no consideration for

the number of physical files, the size of each file, the type of each field, or the size of individual

fields is necessary. Because these physical constraints are ignored, the database views being

evaluated are referred to as logical views. Once all logical views of the database have been

considered and the inclusion of all required data has been verified, these views are then merged

into one comprehensive view. In database terminology, this comprehensive view is referred to as

the conceptual view. From the FDMS conceptual view, the actual physical structure is derived.

In designing the structures for FDMS 2.0 databases, the following logical views have been

considered:

 • Fire Professionals and Affiliated Organizations

 • Fire Test Products

 • Fire Test Measurements

 • Fire Test Methods

 • Fire Test Results

 • Instrumentation Types

 • Laboratory Instrumentation

A complete description of the purpose of each view can be found in the appropriate subsections

below.

1.3 Entity-Relationship Diagrams and Entity-Attribute Diagrams

Each logical view of a database can be graphically represented using a variety of software

engineering diagrams. The most common of these are the Entity-Relationship Diagram (ERD)

and the Entity-Attribute Diagram (EAD). A combination of these diagrams is frequently used in

the early stages of the software design process to represent the items of interest, relationships

between items, and those attributes of individual items which have been identified as critical to

meeting the user's requirements. Pictorial representations of these components simplify the

description making it possible for a user to determine if critical components are missing or

improperly represented.
3

Figure 1 below provides an overview of symbols used in the creation of all ERD and EAD

diagrams throughout this report. These symbols have been categorized as basic constructs,

advanced constructs, indicators of cardinality, and key representations.

Figure 1. Fundamental Entity-Relationship Diagram Constructs.

The basic constructs of an ERD or EAD diagram are the entities, relationships, and attributes. 

Entities are the principal items for which information is stored. A group of similar items is

referred to as an entity type while an occurrence within the group is referred to as an entity

instance. For example, professional fire organizations is an entity type while the Building and

Fire Research Laboratory is an entity instance. Typically, the use of the term entity without the

modifier "instance" refers to the entity type. Entities can be further classified as one of two

types: kernel and weak. Kernel entities exist independently of all other entities while weak

entities require the existence of at least one other entity. For a laboratory technician tracking

instrument calibrations, each instrument is a kernel entity. However, the calibrations are weak

entities since they require the existence of an instrument before they can be recorded. The

relationships in ERD diagrams represent any association between individual entities. The

attributes are the actual characteristics of an entity or relationship. Attributes apply to
4

relationships as well as entities since some characteristics become relevant only in the

relationship between two entities.

Advanced EAD constructs utilized in this report include attribute groups and supertype attributes. 

Attribute groups provide the ability to replace a grouping of several attributes with a single

attribute referred to as the supertype attribute. Attribute group notation can also be used to

indicate the derivation of an attribute, the supertype attribute, from one or more additional

attributes. This is commonly done to indicate those attributes which define a primary key for an

entity instance.

Cardinality in ERD diagrams indicates the minimum and maximum number of entity occurrences

permitted in a relationship for any one occurrence of an entity. An example of cardinality in an

ERD diagram is the relationship between a fire test and a standardized test method such as the

Cone Calorimeter. For any fire test there is a cardinality of one and only one to the type of test

method, in this case, the Cone Calorimeter. For the Cone Calorimeter test method, there may be

zero or many fire test occurrences in the database. In EAD diagrams, cardinality indicates the

minimum and maximum number of values each attribute may acquire for an entity or

relationship instance. In an EAD diagram representing the calibration of laboratory

instrumentation, a calibration history entry will have one and only one date, an operator might

not be entered but at most one is possible, and there may be zero or many notes describing the

calibration. Four types of cardinality are possible in this report: zero or one, one and only one,

one or many, and zero or many. These cardinalities can be understood by considering any one

occurrence of an entity or relationship. For a single occurrence, a cardinality of zero or one for a

related entity or attribute implies that that entity or attribute does not have to exist, but if it does,

there can be no more than one occurrence. A cardinality of one and only one implies that the

object must exist and cannot have more than one possible value. The remaining cardinalities

allow for multiple occurrences and differ only in the requirement for existence of an occurrence

of the object.

The final symbolic representation in the EAD diagrams below is the key indicator. Keys are used

to quickly access particular entity instances in a database. Three types of keys have been used. 

Primary keys are used to uniquely identify an occurrence of the entity. A primary key attribute

must have one value occurrence for each entity in the database and cannot have more than one. 

Secondary keys are used to access entities which share a common attribute occurrence. The

existence of a secondary key attribute value is not mandatory, and the number of entity

occurrences with this attribute value is unlimited. Finally, the foreign key attribute indicates that

the value for the attribute is actually obtained from the attribute of another entity or relationship

occurrence.
5

1.4 Fire Professionals and Affiliated Organizations

The Fire Professionals and Affiliated Organizations logical view of the FDMS supports inquiries

such as the following:

 • What fire testing organizations are located in the United States?

 • With which organization(s) is a known fire professional affiliated and in what capacities?

 • What is the mailing address for the Building and Fire Research Laboratory?

 • I need to speak with a fire modeler at the Building and Fire Research Laboratory. Who

should I call and what is the number?

View 1. Fire Professionals and Affiliated Organizations

The following requirements were considered in the derivation of the logical view:

 • People can share a common full name. There must be an additional way to determine

uniqueness other than full name.

 • An individual may be known by both a formal name and a less formal nickname. 

Inquiries should be possible for either.
6

 • An individual can be affiliated with more than one organization at the same time whether

as employee, member, committee officer, etc.

 • An organization can have more than one individual affiliated at any time.

 • An individual can be affiliated with the same organization in different capacities at the

same time. Similarly, an individual's affiliation with an organization may vary over time

assuming several distinct capacities.

 • An organization may have several divisions each with different addresses.

 • An individual can change employers, divisions within an employer organization, and

professional organization memberships.

 • An individual may return to a previous employer or organization at a future date.

 • Entries for individuals may need to be made even though the affiliated organizations are

not known.

 • Entries for an organization may need to be made even though the affiliated individuals are

not known.

 • The ability to add general comments about an individual or an organization must be

supported. The format of these comments should allow the user to include any

information considered pertinent for that individual or organization. The number and

length of comments needed is uncertain.

 • The ability to add comments specifically about an individual's affiliation with an

organization must be supported. The format of these comments should allow the user to

include any information considered pertinent. The number and length of comments

needed is uncertain.

 • A variety of communication methods are available today. Do not limit the

communications information exclusively to address and phone number.

 • Inquiries on job titles must be supported.

 • Inquiries on the type of business must be supported.

1.5 Fire Test Products

The terminology "test products" refers to materials of interest in fire tests. These products can be

composites of additional materials. The terminology "product" will refer to both singular

materials and composites. The Fire Test Products logical view of the FDMS supports inquiries

such as the following:

 • What products are commonly used in fire tests?

 • A known product is a composite of other products. What are the other products? What

are the thermophysical properties of these products, individually? What are the

thermophysical properties of the composite?

 • In what materials is a known product used as a component?

 • A fire test is to be run using a known product. Who supplies this product?
7

View 2. Fire Test Products

The following requirements were considered in the derivation of the logical view:

 • Products could share a common description. There must be an additional way to

determine uniqueness other than product description.

 • Product thermophysical properties must be available for individual products as well as

composite products. These thermophysical properties include density, thickness,

conductivity, specific heat, and emissivity.

 • A product may be a composition of several additional products. This is not required.

 • A composite product may be composed of additional composite products.

 • The number of products used to create a composite cannot be assumed.

 • A product may be supplied by more than one supplier.

 • A supplier may supply more than one product.

 • Entries for products may need to be made even though the supplier is not known.

 • Entries for a supplier cannot be made without knowing the product supplied.

 • The product catalog number may vary depending on the supplier of the product.
8

 • The ability to add general comments about a product must be supported. The format of

these comments should allow the user to include any information considered pertinent. 

The number and length of comments needed is uncertain.

 • Inquiries on the common use of a product must be supported.

1.6 Fire Test Measurements

The Fire Test Measurements logical view of the FDMS supports inquiries such as the following:

 • What measurements are evaluated in fire tests?

 • From what base measure is a known measurement derived?

 • In what units is a derived measurement stored?

 • In what units is a derived measurement displayed?

View 3. Fire Test Measurements
9

The following requirements were considered in the derivation of the logical view:

 • Fire test measurements can be grouped into two types: base measures and measurements

derived by some combination of the base measures.

 • Base measurements are a finite set which should not be expanded or modified by the user.

 • Users must be able to derive a new measurement from this set of base measures to use in

the definition of new test methods or in experimental test runs.

 • The units of storage for derived measurements are determined by the units of storage for

the base measurements.

 • The units of display for derived measurements are determined by the units of display for

the base measurements. These display units should not vary between test methods so that

value comparisons for a derived measurement can be made independent of the test

method by which they were obtained.

 • The units of storage for base measurements cannot be modified by the user.

 • The units of display for base measurements should be customizable by the user.

 • The units of data acquisition for a derived measurement can vary by the test method as

well as by the laboratory for the same test method. For this reason, data acquisition units

should be customizable by the user within each defined test method.

 • The format type and size for a derived measurement should remain the same regardless of

the type of fire test for which it was evaluated.

 • Measurements could share a common description. There must be an additional way to

determine uniqueness other than measurement description.

 • The ability to add general comments about a derived measurement must be supported. 

The format of these comments should allow the user to include any information

considered pertinent. The number and length of comments needed is uncertain.

See subsection 2.5.5 for a further discussion of base measurements and derived measurements in

addition to a detailed list of the set of measurements provided in an initial installation.

1.7 Fire Test Methods

The Fire Test Methods logical view of the FDMS supports inquiries such as the following:

 • What test methods are commonly used for fire tests? What measurements are obtained

for each?

 • What fire models are currently available? What type of evaluations does each provide?

 • For a known test method, what documentation describes the method? What organization

is responsible for this documentation and what is the document number?

 • What test methods or fire models evaluate a known derived measurement?

 • For a known test method, what setup conditions are required?
10

View 4. Fire Test Methods

For each fire test method, various derived measurements from the test measurement logical view

are selected. The role for each measure is either as a setup condition prior to running the test or

an evaluation of the effects of the test. Setup "conditions" will be used to refer to those measures

needed for test setup while "measures" will refer to the results actually measured. 

The following requirements were considered in the derivation of the logical view:

 • Fire test methods and models are constantly evolving. The user must be able to define a

new method in the database without requiring additional programming effort.

 • A test method may evaluate derived measurements which are evaluated in other methods

as well.

 • A test method should be defined once. Multiple test runs for this method should be

tracked separately from this definition.

 • A document describes only one test method.

 • Two or more documents can define identical test methods. This is due to the

endorsement of a test method by separate organizations.
11

 • For any one document number, one organization is responsible. Other organizations

assign a distinct document number even if the text of the document does not change.

 • Not all test methods tracked by users will be accepted as standards.

 • Methods could share a common description. There must be an additional way to

determine uniqueness other than method description.

 • The ability to add general comments about a test method or document must be supported. 

The format of these comments should allow the user to include any information

considered pertinent. The number and length of comments needed is uncertain.

1.8 Fire Test Results

The Fire Test Results logical view of the FDMS supports inquiries such as the following:

 • For a known product and derived measurement, what test results are available?

 • For a known laboratory, test method, and date, what tests were run?

 • For a known test run, what were the results of all measurements?

 • For a known test run, what were the setup conditions?

 • For a known test run, what were the temperature readings from selected locations?

 • For a known test run, what products were tested?

 • For a known test run, what measurement was obtained through a specified channel?

The following requirements were considered in the derivation of the logical view:

 • Fire test methods and models are constantly evolving. The user must be able to define

new results in the database without requiring additional programming effort.

 • Fire test uniqueness is fully determined by the test method, the testing laboratory, the date

of the test, and the run number within the laboratory.

 • Multiple products may be tested at one time that are not part of a composite product.

 • If a composite product is tested, the components must be easily determined.

 • For any derived measurement, some real-scale tests report more than one set of time

scans for that measurement. Additional scans are uniquely determined by the position of

the instrumentation.

 • For any test run, not all derived measurements defined for the method will be recorded.

 • Inquiries for values of a particular derived measurement and a particular product without

specifying a test will be more common than inquiries for the full set of test values of one

test run.

 • The ability to add general comments about a test run must be supported. The format of

these comments should allow the user to include any information considered pertinent. 

The number and length of comments needed is uncertain.
12

View 5. Fire Test Results

1.9 Instrumentation Types

 The Instrumentation Type logical view supports inquiries such as the following:

 • For a known instrument type, what other instrument types are components?

 • What instrument types are commonly used in fire tests?
13

View 6. Instrumentation Types

The following requirements were considered in the derivation of the logical view:

 • Instrument types could share a common description. There must be an additional way to

determine uniqueness other than instrument description.

 • Instruments can be a composite of other types of instruments. Knowledge of this

composition is important.

 • Since instrument composition is not determined by particular instances of an

instrumentation type, time variance is not important.

 • The ability to add general comments about an instrument must be supported. The format

of these comments should allow the user to include any information considered pertinent. 

The number and length of comments needed is uncertain.
14

1.10 Laboratory Instrumentation

The Laboratory Instrumentation logical view is provided for local site installations only. 

This logical view of the FDMS supports inquiries such as the following:

 • For a known instrument, what is the calibration history?

 • For a known instrument, when should the next calibration be done?

 • For a known instrument, what other instruments are components?

 • For a known instrument, who is the manufacturer?

 • How many of a known type of instrument are currently in the laboratory? What are the

corresponding instrument identification numbers?

 • Who was responsible for an instrument calibration on a known date?

View 7. Laboratory Instrumentation

The following requirements were considered in the derivation of the logical view:

 • Laboratories may have multiple instruments of a given type. The instrument name is not

sufficient for unique identification.
15

 • When multiple instruments are available, identification numbers have frequently been

assigned within the laboratory. Unique identification is possible through this number.

 • Instruments can be a composite of other instruments. Knowledge of this composition is

important.

 • Instrument composition varies over time and is not necessarily dependent on particular

test runs.

 • The ability to add general comments about an instrument must be supported. The format

of these comments should allow the user to include any information considered pertinent. 

The number and length of comments needed is uncertain.

 • The ability to add general comments about a calibration must be supported. The format

of these comments should allow the user to include any information considered pertinent. 

The number and length of comments needed is uncertain.

1.11 FDMS Conceptual View

With all logical views completed and verified, the logical views are merged into a comprehensive

view of the entire database. The FDMS conceptual view differs from the individual views only

in the introduction of the relations: "test sponsor," "test laboratory," "test contact," "test

operator," "test officer," and "state standard." These are shown as relations instead of the

attributes indicated in the individual views since those attribute values are obtained from the

related entities in the conceptual view. This relationship was seen in the individual views as

foreign keys and is critical to avoid introducing redundancy into the database.
16

View 8. FDMS Conceptual View
17

2 Physical Structure of a FDMS Database

2.1 Derivation of Physical Files

This technical documentation updates the documentation provided in reference [5] to provide

comprehensive documentation of the file structures and interconnections of the physical database

implementation. Updated sections have been included for the database available codes and

physical file structures. Comprehensive tables detailing the purpose of each physical database

file and field descriptions by file are included. Some experience with computer databases and

database concepts is assumed throughout the remainder of this reference guide.

Wherever possible, file names and field names from FDMS 1.0 format have been retained for

consistency. The purpose of each file is summarized in a table in section 3. A description for

each field is included in the table in section 4.

2.2 Physical Database File Formats

The internal structure of each file is presented in this section by comparing the existing format to

the original design specifications with variations highlighted. The original specifications can be

found in the FDMS technical documentation [5]. Each format specification details file offsets to

provide developers details regarding access to stored values. The width and decimal columns

reflect storage requirements for string field types only. All other entries in these columns

indicate display formats. Physical storage requirements are determined by the field type. 

Variations in screen format or display format are included so that developers generating import

and export files can support the same numeric precision. Highlighted field name changes

indicate the need for corresponding adjustments in files generated in the FDMS exchange format. 

The field name as it exists in the Internet implementation is highlighted in the field name column

with the previous design name displayed to the right. New fields are indicated with a *** NEW

*** to the right of the specification line. If an entry exists under the related/choice file columns,

this implies that any entry in the corresponding database field is required to use an existing entry

from the specified related/choice file and field. 

Field types and widths for each attribute are assigned using formats from the existing FDMS 1.0

format whenever possible. Field types supported include: string (fixed-length strings), vstring

(variable-length strings), character, integer (4 byte integer) ushort (unsigned 2 byte integer),

ulong (unsigned 4 byte integer), float (single precision floating point), date, logical, and choice. 

Logical field types allow "Yes" or "No," "On" or "Off" type entries. Choice fields support

selection of one value from an enumerated set of choices in the CHOICE data file. The format of

the CHOICE data file is detailed in subsection 2.9.6. Possible entries for any choice field are

enumerated for that field name in section 4.
18

Variable length fields, vlength, store a 4 byte integer count indicating the number of remaining

elements in the field. The interpretation of the 4 byte leading integer in these variable length

fields is dependent on the contents of other fields within the physical database record. If other

fields indicate that the information following the count is a text string, each element is decoded

as a 1 byte character. If other fields indicate that the information following the count is an array,

each element is decoded as a 4 byte floating point number. All other records are interpreted as

containing scalar data in the vlength fields and only one 4 byte value after the counter is decoded. 

Implementation of this new field type has made it possible to consolidate the TSTCONDI,

TSTCONDR, and TSTCONDS files into one TESTCOND file. Similarly, the TSTMEASI,

TSTMEASR, and TSTMEASS files have been combined into one TESTMEAS file. For each

record in the TESTCOND and TESTMEAS file, the corresponding derived measurement is

accessed in the DRVDMEAS file using the DRVID field relation. The contents of the

DRVFORM field for the derived measurement are then used to interpret the type of data stored in

the VALUE field of the original TESTCOND or TESTMEAS record. If no entry exists for the

measurement in the DRVDMEAS file, the measurement is assumed to be vector floating point.

There are two common techniques for storing date fields in database applications. The first

technique requires the establishing of a base year for all stored dates. An unsigned short integer

field is then used to store a year offset of 0-119 packed into bits 9-15. The month is stored in bits

5-8 and the day in bits 0-4. For a date MM/DD/YYYY and a base year 1980, the stored short

integer value would be (YYYY-1980)*512 + MM*32 + DD. The other storage approach

requires an unsigned long integer and can store any date MM/DD/YYYY as YYYY*10000 +

MM*100 + DD. This approach does not require a base year and can accommodate a large range

of dates. Because storage in a FDMS database is likely to become an issue in the future, the first

storage technique has been selected with a base year of 1970. This provides storage for any date

from 1970 - 2089. This range can be easily adjusted by changing the base year. However, if this

date range is inadequate, the base year should be adjusted prior to storing any dates in the

database in order to avoid extensive modifications to existing data in the future. It is also

possible to convert this date format to the longer format in the future if the upper date limit

becomes a problem.

Two bookkeeping fields are added to the PEOPLE, ORGANISE, AFFILIAT, PRODUCT,

INSTRUM, DRVDMEAS, DOCUMENT, METHOD, and TEST files. Since these fields pertain

only to the internal handling of the physical files, they are not indicated as attributes in the logical

views. The PRIVATE field is used to determine a level of update/view access for each record in

the file. The LAST_UPD field stores the latest date for which the record information is

considered current. This prevents outdated information imported from other FDMS applications

from overwriting a more current version of the data.

The remainder of this physical file section details file formats under subsection headings that

correspond to the logical view subsections. For each subsection, the width and decimal columns

reflect storage requirements for string field types only. All other entries in these columns

indicate display formats. Physical storage requirements are determined by the field type. If an
19

entry exists under the related/choice file columns, this implies that any entry in the corresponding

database field is required to use an existing entry from the specified related/choice file and field. 

2.3 Fire Professionals and Affiliated Organizations

2.3.1 ORGANISE

In addition to the field name change below, a new index has been created to assist in searching

the file using the contents of the ORGTYPE field. This field supports grouping of organizations

based on the type of business.

 Field Related/Choice

 Name Type Width Decimal File Field

ORGID String 10

ORGTYPE Choice

LAST_UPD Date

PRIVATE Choice

ORGANISE VString 

DIVISION VString 

ADDRESS1 VString 

ADDRESS2 VString 

CITY VString 

REGION VString 

POSTCODE VString 

COUNTRY VString 

PHONE VString 

MORPHONE VString 

FAX VString 

TELEX VString 

E_MAIL VString E-MAIL

2.3.2 ORGNOTES

 Field Related/Choice

 Name Type Width Decimal File Field

ORGID String 10 ORGANISE ORGID

SEQNO UShort

NOTE VString

2.3.3 PEOPLE

The LASTNAME, FRSTNAME, and MIDNAME fields have replaced the FULLNAME field in

the previous design. This provides for easier sorting based on individual's names with the

disadvantage that the three fields must now be concatenated in order to display the full name. 

The new TITLE field provides storage for professional titles such as Professor or Dr. Position

titles should be stored in the POSITION field of the AFFILIAT file.
20

 Field Related/Choice

 Name Type Width Decimal File Field

PERSONID String 10

LAST_UPD Date

PRIVATE Choice

LASTNAME VString *** NEW ***

FRSTNAME VString *** NEW ***

MIDNAME VString *** NEW ***

NICKNAME VString

TITLE VString *** NEW ***

2.3.4 PERNOTES

 Field Related/Choice

 Name Type Width Decimal File Field

PERSONID String 10

SEQNO UShort

NOTE VString

2.3.5 AFFILIAT

 Field Related/Choice

 Name Type Width Decimal File Field

PERSONID String 10 PEOPLE PERSONID

ORGID String 10 ORGANISE ORGID

DATE_BEG Date

DATE_END Date

LAST_UPD Date

PRIVATE Choice

POSITION VString

ADDRESS1 VString

ADDRESS2 VString

CITY VString

REGION VString

POSTCODE VString

COUNTRY VString

PHONE VString

MORPHONE VString

FAX VString

TELEX VString

E-MAIL VString

2.3.6 AFFNOTES

 Field Related/Choice

 Name Type Width Decimal File Field

PERSONID String 10 PEOPLE PERSONID

ORGID String 10 ORGANISE ORGID

SEQNO UShort

NOTE VString
21

2.4 Fire Test Products

2.4.1 PRODUCT

The previous field names PRODENS, PROCOND, PROSHEAT, PROEMISS, and PROTHICK

have been replaced with generic field names that can be used in other files to indicate the same

type of information. For these fields, values specific to the product design are stored in this file. 

Variations from these values specific to a specimen tested are stored in corresponding fields in

the TESTPROD file. New fields have been added to store the length, height, and mass

dimensions for a designed product. These fields also have corresponding fields in the

TESTPROD file to accommodate differences in actual specimen tests.

 Field Related/Choice

 Name Type Width Decimal File Field

PRODID String 10

MAINUSE Choice

COMPOS Logical

DENSITY Float PRODENSI

LENGTH Float *** NEW ***

HEIGHT Float *** NEW ***

THICK Float PROTHICK

MASS Float *** NEW ***

COND Float PROCOND

SPHEAT Float PROSHEAT

EMISS Float PROEMISS

LAST_UPD Date

PRIVATE Choice

PRODNAME VString

2.4.2 PRODNOTE

 Field Related/Choice

 Name Type Width Decimal File Field

PRODID String 10 PRODUCT PRODID

SEQNO UShort

NOTE VString

2.4.3 PRODBASE

 Field Related/Choice

 Name Type Width Decimal File Field

PRODMAIN String 10 PRODUCT PRODID

PRODSUB String 10 PRODUCT PRODID

LAYERID VString
22

2.4.4 PRODSUPP

 Field Related/Choice

 Name Type Width Decimal File Field

PRODID String 10 PRODUCT PRODID

MANUFID String 10 ORGANISE ORGID

CATNO Vstring

2.5 Fire Test Measurements

Typically, temperature, pressure, length, energy, mass, and time are considered a comprehensive

set of base measures in the scientific and engineering communities. The FDMS base measure

implementation is an expanded set of this traditional set of base measures in an attempt to

accommodate display unit variations in the same fire test method. For example, it is not

uncommon for one test to record some derived temperature measurements using (C and other

measures using K. In order to accommodate this exception, two temperature base measures are

provided in FDMS: temperature and absolute temperature. The energy release rate and energy

absorption rate base measures have been included as a convenience to the user since these

measures commonly display as watts instead of kilojoules/second. Four base measures have

been added to accommodate dimensionless measures. A ratio base measure handles numerical

ratios of two measured or calculated values. For example, an average value for any measured

variable would be represented as a ratio. Similarly, a percent base measure exists for those

measures expressed as percentages of other measures. Dimensionless numerical measures which

are not numerical ratios or percentages are handled by the dimensionless base measure. The text

base measure deals with derived measures having display values such as "Yes" or "No,"

"Horizontal" or "Vertical," or text descriptions of observed behavior.

2.5.1 BASEMEAS

 Field Related/Choice

 Name Type Width Decimal File Field

BASEID String 10

BASESTOR Choice

BASEDISP Choice

BASENAME VString

2.5.2 DRVDBASE

 Field Related/Choice

 Name Type Width Decimal File Field

DRVID String 10 DRVDMEAS DRVID

BASEID String 10 BASEMEAS BASEID

BASEPWR Float
23

2.5.3 DRVDMEAS

The field DRVVECSC from the original design has been deleted. This field is no longer needed

since the DRVFORM field provides sufficient information to determine if the measurement is

vector or scalar. The fields DRVWIDTH and DRVDCML have been changed from type integer

to type ushort since a 2 byte integer is sufficient to store the width and number of decimal place

positions and will require less storage space.

 Field Related/Choice

 Name Type Width Decimal File Field

DRVID String 10

DRVFORM Choice

DRVWIDTH UShort

DRVDCML UShort

LAST_UPD Date

PRIVATE Choice

DRVNAME Vstring

2.5.4 DRVDNOTE

 Field Related/Choice

 Name Type Width Decimal File Field

DRVID String 10 DRVDMEAS DRVID

SEQNO UShort

NOTE Vstring

2.5.5 Initial Installation Data

Base measures cannot be defined by the user. Storage units for base measures are the SI units

and cannot be modified. Display units for the base measures are user selectable. Base measures

available with an installed FDMS system, the corresponding storage units, and available display

units are shown in the table below.
24

Table 1. FDMS Base Measurements

Base Measure Display Units Storage Units

Temperature celsius, fahrenheit kelvin

Absolute Temperature kelvin, rankine kelvin

Pressure pascal, atmosphere, bar, mercury

(mm of mercury), water (inches of

water)

pascal

Length meter, centimeter, millimeter, foot,

inch

meter

Energy joule, kilojoule, megajoule, btu joule

Energy Release Rate watt, kilowatt, megawatt, btu/s,

btu/hour

watt

Energy Absorption Rate watt, kilowatt, megawatt, btu/sec,

btu/hour

watt

Mass gram, kilogram, pound kilogram

Time second, hour, minute second

Ratio

Percent

Dimensionless

Text

Derived measures are created through combinations of the individual base measures. The set of

derived measures covers those vector and scalar measurements evaluated by the Cone

Calorimeter, Furniture Calorimeter, LIFT, and the Room/Corner test in FDMS 1.0. Derived

measures are also provided for any setup conditions required by these same test methods. 

Additional derived measures can be created as needed by the user for other test methods. One of

the strengths of this physical file implementation is the ability to easily generate new derived

measures, and consequently, new fire test methods, without creating a new physical file structure.

Storage units for derived measures are determined by the storage units for the base measures. 

Display units are determined by the user selected base measure display units. Data acquisition

units are determined by the individual test methods and are discussed in subsection 2.6. Derived

measures provided in FDMS, the component base measures, and the current usage as scalar or

vector are indicated in table 2. Note that the use of scalar and/or vector values for a measure

reflects an initial definition. Some measures (for example, thermal conductivity) could be either

scalar or vector in a specific application of FDMS.
25

Table 2. FDMS Derived Measurements

Derived Measures

Short Label Long Label Base Measure Scalar/Vector

AREA Specimen area. Length2 S

ASCARITE Indicates if CO2 was removed

from the sample before O2 was

measured using Ascarite or

equivalent means.

Text S

AVGCO Test average of the CO yield. Ratio S

AVGCO2 Test average of the CO2 yield. Ratio S

AVGH2O Test average of the H2O yield. Ratio S

AVGHC Test average of the effective

heat of combustion.

Energy · mass-1 S

AVGMDOT Test average of the mass loss

rate.

Mass · time-1 · length-2 S

AVGQDOT Test average of the rate of heat

release.

Energy release rate ·

length-2

S

AVGSIGMA Test average of the specific

smoke extinction area.

Length2 · mass-1 S

B-LIFT LIFT Ignition parameter. Time-0.5 S

BURNER Burner heat release rate. Energy release rate V

BURNSPEC Heat output values specified for

the burner program.

Energy release rate S

C-CONE Orifice constant as determined

from the CH4 burner calibration.

Length0.5 · mass0.5 ·

temperature0.5

S

C-LIFT Slope of correlated flame spread

data.

Time0.5 · length1.5 ·

energy release rate-1

S

CO60 Average CO yield over 60

seconds subsequent to ignition.

Ratio S

CO180 Average CO yield over 180

seconds subsequent to ignition.

Ratio S
Derived Measures

Short Label Long Label Base Measure Scalar/Vector

26

CO300 Average CO yield over 300

seconds subsequent to ignition.

Ratio S

CONDUCT Conductivity. Energy absorption rate

· length-1 ·

temperature-1

S

COPROD Production rate of Carbon

monoxide.

Mass · time-1 V

COSTACK Carbon monoxide concentration

in exhaust stack.

Percent V

COYIELD Carbon monoxide yield. Ratio V

CO260 Average CO2 yield over 60

seconds subsequent to ignition.

Ratio S

CO2180 Average CO2 yield over 180

seconds subsequent to ignition.

Ratio S

CO2300 Average CO2 yield over 300

seconds subsequent to ignition.

Ratio S

CO2PROD Production rate of Carbon

dioxide.

Mass · time-1 V

CO2STACK Carbon dioxide concentration in

exhaust stack.

Percent V

CO2YIELD Carbon dioxide yield. Ratio V

DENSITY Density. Mass · length-3 S

E Oxygen consumption constant. Energy · mass-1 S

EXTCOEFF Smoke extinction coefficient in

exhaust stack.

Length-1 V

FLAMEOUT Time to flameout. Time S

FLASH Time when flashover is

observed in the room.

Time S
Derived Measures

Short Label Long Label Base Measure Scalar/Vector

27

FLOW Flow rate of a gas burner. Mass · time-1 S

FLOWDUCT Duct flow rate. Mass · time-1 V

FLOWGAS Flow rate of gas to ignition

burner.

Mass · time-1 V

FLOWVEL Volumetric flow rate. Length3

 · time-1 V

FLUX Flux. Energy release rate ·

length-2

S

FLUXCEIL Heat flux measurement at

compartment ceiling.

Energy release rate ·

length-2

V

FLUXFLOR Heat flux measurement at

compartment floor.

Energy release rate ·

length-2

V

FRAME Denotes if the edge frame was

used.

Text S

GRID Denotes if the wire grid was

used.

Text S

H2O60 Average H2O yield over 60

seconds subsequent to ignition.

Ratio S

H2O180 Average H2O yield over 180

seconds subsequent to ignition.

Ratio S

H2O300 Average H2O yield over 300

seconds subsequent to ignition.

Ratio S

H2OPROD Production rate of water vapor. Mass · time-1 V

H2OSTACK Water vapor concentration in

exhaust stack.

Percent V

H2OYIELD Water vapor yield. Ratio V

HBR HBr yield. Ratio S

HC Effective heat of combustion. Energy · mass-1 V
Derived Measures

Short Label Long Label Base Measure Scalar/Vector

28

HC60 Average heat of combustion

over 60 seconds subsequent to

ignition.

Energy · mass-1 S

HC180 Average heat of combustion

over 180 seconds subsequent to

ignition.

Energy · mass-1 S

HC300 Average heat of combustion

over 300 seconds subsequent to

ignition.

Energy · mass-1 S

HCL HCl yield. Ratio S

HCLPROD Production rate of HCl. Mass · time-1 V

HCLSTACK Hydrogen chloride

concentration in exhaust stack.

Percent V

HCLYIELD Hydrogen chloride yield. Ratio V

HCN HCN yield. Ratio S

HRR Heat release rate. Energy release rate V

HRR/A Heat release rate per unit area. Energy release rate ·

length-2

V

HRRTOT Total heat released. Energy V

IGNITOR Ignitor used. Text S

IGNTYPE Ignition type. Text S

INERTIA Thermal inertia. Energy release rate2 ·

time · length-4 ·

absolute temperature-2

S

IRRAD Heat flux calibration meter. Energy release rate ·

length-2

V

LOCATION Location of the specimen. Text S

MASS Specimen mass. Mass V

MASS/A Specimen mass per unit area. Mass · length-2 V
Derived Measures

Short Label Long Label Base Measure Scalar/Vector

29

MASSF Specimen mass at the end of the

test.

Mass S

MASSFLOW Mass flow rate. Mass · time-1 V

MASSI Specimen mass before the start

of the test.

Mass S

MASSLOSS Specimen mass loss during the

test.

Mass S

MAXEXT Maximum value of the smoke

extinction area flow rate.

Length2

 · time-1 S

MAXMDOT Peak mass loss rate. Mass · time-1 · length-2 S

MAXQDOT Peak rate of heat release. Energy release rate ·

length-2

S

MAXSIGMA Peak specific smoke extinction

area.

Length2 · mass-1 S

MAXTIME Time to the peak rate of heat

release.

Time S

MDOT60 Average mass loss rate over 60

seconds subsequent to ignition.

Mass · time-1 · length-2 S

MDOT180 Average mass loss rate over 180

seconds subsequent to ignition.

Mass · time-1 · length-2 S

MDOT300 Average mass loss rate over 300

seconds subsequent to ignition.

Mass · time-1 · length-2 S

MLR Mass loss rate of the sample. Mass · time-1 V

MLR/A Mass loss rate of the sample per

unit area.

Mass · time-1 · length-2 V

MOUNT Specifies the means of

mounting.

Text S

O2SUPPLY Oxygen concentration in supply

air.

Percent V

O2STACK Oxygen concentration in

exhaust stack.

Percent V
Derived Measures

Short Label Long Label Base Measure Scalar/Vector

30

ORIENT Specimen orientation,

horizontal or vertical.

Text S

OXYGEN Nominal value of the oxygen

concentration in the enclosure

around the heater and sample.

Percent S

PHI Flame heating parameter. Energy release rate2

 ·

length-3

S

PILOT Indicates if ignition was piloted. Text S

PRESORI Pressure drop across exhaust

orifice plate.

Pressure V

PRESPROB Pressure drop across bidirectional flow probe.Pressure V

PRESTUBE Pressure difference at pitotstatic tube.Pressure V

PYRLYSIS Pyrolysis rate. Mass · time-1 V

QDOT60 Average rate of heat release

over 60 seconds subsequent to

ignition.

Energy release rate ·

length-2

S

QDOT180 Average rate of heat release

over 180 seconds subsequent to

ignition.

Energy release rate ·

length-2

S

QDOT300 Average rate of heat release

over 300 seconds subsequent to

ignition.

Energy release rate ·

length-2

S

QIG Minimum flux for ignition. Energy release rate ·

length-2

S

QSMIN Minimum flux for spread. Energy release rate ·

length-2

S

RHCOND Relative humidity for specimen

conditioning.

Percentage S

RHTEST Relative humidity of the supply

air for conducting the test.

Percentage S
Derived Measures

Short Label Long Label Base Measure Scalar/Vector

31

SEA Smoke specific extinction area

in exhaust stack.

Length2 · mass-1 V

SEARATE Smoke extinction area flow

rate.

Length2

 · time-1 V

SIGMA60 Average specific smoke

extinction area over 60 seconds

subsequent to ignition.

Length2 · mass-1 S

SIGMA180 Average specific smoke

extinction area over 180

seconds subsequent to ignition.

Length2 · mass-1

S

SIGMA300 Average specific smoke

extinction area over 300

seconds subsequent to ignition.

Length2

 · mass-1 S

SOOT Ratio of mass of soot deposited

on the soot filter to mass of

specimen loss during the test.

Ratio S

SOOTMASS Soot mass sampler flow rate. Mass · time-1 V

SPHEAT Specific heat. Energy · mass-1 ·

temperature-1

S

SUMEXT Total smoke extinction area

released during the test.

Length2 S

SURFDENS When thin textiles, papers, etc.

are covering some standard

substrate, it is most appropriate

to describe them by their

surface density.

Mass · length-3 S

TEMP1 Temperature at specimen

location 1.

Temperature V

TEMP2 Temperature at specimen

location 2.

Temperature V

TEMP3 Temperature at specimen

location 3.

Temperature V
Derived Measures

Short Label Long Label Base Measure Scalar/Vector

32

TEMPCOND Temperature for specimen

conditioning.

Temperature S

TEMPFLOW Temperature at the flow

measuring station.

Temperature V

TEMPGAS Temperature of the gas at

specified depth in compartment.

Temperature V

TEMPLAS Temperature at laser extinction

beam.

Temperature V

TEMPORI Temperature at the orifice plate. Temperature V

TEMPSMK Temperature at the smoke

meter.

Temperature V

TEMPSTCK Temperature of gas in exhaust

stack.

Temperature V

TEMPSURF Surface temperature of the

ceiling or wall at specified

location.

Temperature V

TEMPTEST Temperature of the supply air

for conducting the test.

Temperature S

THICK Specimen thickness. Length S

TIG Minimum temperature for

ignition.

Temperature S

TIGN Time to ignition. Time S

TIME Time from start of ignition

source.

Time V

TOTLHEAT Total heat released during the

test

Energy S

TOTLHEAT/

A

Total heat released during the

test per unit area.

Energy · length-2 S

TSMIN Minimum temperature for

spread.

Temperature S
Derived Measures

Short Label Long Label Base Measure Scalar/Vector

33

TSTAR Characteristic equilibrium or

thermal steady state time.

Time S

TUH Total unburned fuel yield. Ratio S

TUHSTACK Total unburned hydrocarbon

concentration in exhaust stack.

Percent V

TUHYIELD Total hydrocarbons yield. Ratio V

VELOCITY Velocity. Length · time-1 V

VOLLAS Volumetric flow at laser

extinction beam.

Length3 · time-1 V

VOLSTACK Volumetric flow in exhaust

stack.

Length3 · time-1 V

VOLUME Volume. Length3 S

2.6 Fire Test Methods

The logical view for fire test methods can be implemented in several ways. The traditional

approach creates one physical file for each test method with a field position assigned to each

setup condition and test measurement. In this implementation, the test method description is the

file format description for the storage of the actual test results. Methods measuring a common

derived measurement might assign these fields at different positions within the different method

files and could potentially use different field formats for each. The consequence is that inquiries

for the fire test results of a particular derived measurement regardless of test method can be

difficult to obtain. All files with this measurement field would need to be searched individually. 

The search is complicated by the varying position and field format of the measurement field for

each test method format. Additionally, the creation and modification of physical file formats for

individual test methods involves programming effort. 

The alternative approach implemented in FDMS creates a record for each test method in a

combined file of methods, METHOD. For each test method entry in this file, additional records

specifying setup conditions and test measurements are stored in the METHMEAS file, one for

each derived measurement. One physical file is used to store setup conditions and test

measurement definitions with differentiation handled by a logical field, MEASCOND, for each

record. The differentiation between setup conditions and test measurements becomes important

in the storage implementation of the test results since additional information is required for the
34

test measurements. This physical implementation for fire test methods allows new

measurements to be added to existing methods, old measurements to be deleted, and new

methods to be defined without generating new file structures or programming routines. Queries

for the values of a selected derived measurement can be handled without requiring knowledge of

the particular file, field, or format specifiers. Storage for the actual test results is handled by the

files discussed in subsection 2.7.

For each setup condition and test measurement within the method, data acquisition units can be

specified. These are the units the laboratory used in evaluating the measurement and are needed

to determine how to convert imported values to the appropriate stored SI units for that derived

measurement in a FDMS database. If no units are specified for the measurement, the default

assumed will be the SI storage units for that derived measurement. Most derived measurements

are generated from 2 to 3 base measurements. However, this is not a number which can be

assumed since derived measurements now or in the future could be composed of 4, 5, or more

base measurements each. For each base measurement composing the derived measurement, a

different data acquisition unit must be specified. In order to accommodate the varying number of

components, the traditional database implementation generates individual records in a separate

file, one for each component base measurement, indicating the data acquisition units for that base

measurement. An alternative approach could store the base measurement units as a commadelimited variable length string in the METHMEAS file for the derived measurement. The

problem with this approach is in determining the order with which to match the units to the

component base measurements. Since the composition of a derived measurement could

potentially be altered at a later time by a user, this further complicates interpretation of this string

when implementing data conversion. For this reason, the traditional approach is implemented in

FDMS 2.0 with one modification. For each measurement in METHMEAS, a flag field is used to

indicate when the default SI storage units should override the user specified units. This prevents

the need to delete the individual records when switching back to the default only to create new

records at a later time. For further details on the use of the data acquisition units when importing

data, refer to section 4.

2.6.1 METHOD

A new index has been created to assist in searching the file using the contents of the

METHTYPE field. This field supports grouping of test methodologies based on the scale of the

type: bench-scale, intermediate-scale, and full-scale.

 Field Related/Choice

 Name Type Width Decimal File Field

METHID String 10

METHTYPE Choice

LAST_UPD Date

PRIVATE Choice

METHNAME VString
35

2.6.2 METHMEAS

The field MEASCOND has been deleted. A new file METHCOND has been created to store

method conditions separate from method measurements. This is consistent with the original

design storing test conditions and test measurements in separate physical files.

 Field Related/Choice

 Name Type Width Decimal File Field

METHID String 10 METHOD METHID

DRVID String 10 DRVDMEAS DRVID

DATAACQU Logical

2.6.3 METHACQU

 Field Related/Choice

 Name Type Width Decimal File Field

METHID String 10 METHOD METHID

DRVID String 10 DRVDMEAS DRVID

BASEID String 10 BASEEMEAS BASEID

BASEACQU Choice

2.6.4 METHDOC

 Field Related/Choice

 Name Type Width Decimal File Field

METHID String 10 METHOD METHID

DOCID String 10 DOCUMENT DOCID

2.6.5 METHNOTE

 Field Related/Choice

 Name Type Width Decimal File Field

METHID String 10 METHOD METHID

SEQNO UShort

NOTE VString
36

2.6.6 METHCOND

This new file can is used to store method conditions separate from method measurements. This

is consistent with the original design storing test conditions and test measurements in separate

physical files.

 Field Related/Choice

 Name Type Width Decimal File Field

METHID String 10 METHOD METHID

DRVID String 10 DRVDMEAS DRVID

DATAACQU Logical

2.6.7 DOCUMENT

The new field ADMIN provides storage for a document ID internal to the originating

organization. For example, reports generated at NIST typically are noted as NISTIRxxxx or

NISTTNxxxx. This field accommodates these administrative, internal codes. The field DOCID

could store a NIST reference number for any document if that number is available. Otherwise,

an internal identifier is generated for that document. The fields DOCORG and DOCDATE were

the field STDORG and STDDATE in earlier versions of the FDMS format. Identifying the fields

as documents allows inclusion of documents other than standards.

The new field DOCVIDEO indicates if the document is stored as a video. This allows for future

development efforts which could allow users of a FDMS database the ability to play movies

stored as documents.

 Field Related/Choice

 Name Type Width Decimal File Field

DOCID String 10

DOCSTD Logical 

DOCORG String 10 ORGANISE ORGID

DOCDATE Date

AUTHID String 10 PERSON PERSONID *** NEW ***

ADMIN String 20 *** NEW ***

DOCVIDEO Logical *** NEW ***

LAST_UPD Date

PRIVATE Choice

DOCTITLE VString
37

2.6.8 DOCNOTE

 Field Related/Choice

 Name Type Width Decimal File Field

DOCID String 10 DOCUMENT

SEQNO UShort

NOTE VString

2.6.9 Initial Installation Data

Test methods initially defined within for use by NIST include the Cone Calorimeter, the

Furniture Calorimeter, the Lateral Ignition and Flame spread Test apparatus, and the room/corner

test. Entries provided for each include:

Table 3. FDMS Test Methodology Codes

Test Methodologies

Code Description Currently in

Database

1ROOM 1 room tests at NBS, 1985. 6

3ROOMCORR 3 room with corridor tests at NBS, 1988. 28

4ROOMCORR 4 room with corridor tests at Factory Mutual for NBS, 1986. 56

CONE Cone Calorimeter tests for EUREFIC community, 1990. 87

CONE Cone Calorimeter tests for furniture project at NIST, 1992-1994. 59

FREEBURN Freeburn tests at NBS, 1985. 6

MULTSTORY Plaza Hotel tests by NBS, 1990. 11

ROOM Room/Corner tests for EUREFIC community, 1990. 18

ROOM Room/Corner tests at NBS, 1984. 4

Table 4. FDMS Derived Measurements and Data Acquisition Units by Test Method

Method Measurements

Derived Measurement Method Short Label Measure/Condition Data Acquisition

Units

ASCARITE CONE, FURN, ROOM C

AVGCO CONE, FURN, ROOM M kg/kg
Method Measurements

Derived Measurement Method Short Label Measure/Condition Data Acquisition

Units

38

AVGCO2 CONE, FURN, ROOM M kg/kg

AVGH2O CONE, FURN, ROOM M kg/kg

AVGHC CONE, FURN, ROOM M MJ/kg

AVGMDOT CONE, FURN, ROOM M g/(s·m2

)

AVGQDOT CONE, FURN, ROOM M kW/m2

AVGSIGMA CONE, FURN, ROOM M m2/kg

B-LIFT LIFT M s-0.5

BURNER ROOM C kW

BURNSPEC ROOM M

C-CONE CONE, FURN C

C-LIFT LIFT M s0.5 · m0.5 · W-1

CO60 CONE, FURN, ROOM M kg/kg

CO180 CONE, FURN, ROOM M kg/kg

CO300 CONE, FURN, ROOM M kg/kg

COPROD ROOM M g/s

COSTACK CONE, FURN, ROOM M

COYIELD CONE, FURN, ROOM M kg/kg

CO260 CONE, FURN, ROOM M kg/kg

CO2180 CONE, FURN, ROOM M kg/kg

CO2300 CONE, FURN, ROOM M kg/kg

CO2PROD ROOM M g/s

CO2STACK CONE, FURN, ROOM M

CO2YIELD CONE, FURN, ROOM M kg/kg

E CONE, FURN, ROOM C kJ/g

EXTCOEFF CONE, FURN, ROOM M m-1

FLAMEOUT CONE, FURN, LIFT, ROOM M s

FLASH ROOM M s

FLOW CONE, FURN, ROOM C kg/s

FLOWDUCT CONE, FURN, ROOM M kg/s
Method Measurements

Derived Measurement Method Short Label Measure/Condition Data Acquisition

Units

39

FLOWGAS FURN, ROOM M kg/s

FLUX CONE, FURN, ROOM C kW/m2

FLUXCEIL ROOM M kW/m2

FLUXFLOR ROOM M kW/m2

FRAME CONE C

GRID CONE C

H2O60 CONE, FURN, ROOM M kg/kg

H2O180 CONE, FURN, ROOM M kg/kg

H2O300 CONE, FURN, ROOM M kg/kg

H2OPROD ROOM M g/s

H2OSTACK CONE, FURN, ROOM M

H20YIELD CONE, FURN, ROOM M kg/kg

HBR CONE, FURN, ROOM M kg/kg

HC CONE, FURN, ROOM M MJ/kg

HC60 CONE, FURN, ROOM M MJ/kg

HC180 CONE, FURN, ROOM M MJ/kg

HC300 CONE, FURN, ROOM M MJ/kg

HCL CONE, FURN, ROOM M kg/kg

HCLPROD ROOM M g/s

HCLSTACK CONE, FURN, ROOM M

HCLYIELD CONE, FURN, ROOM M kg/kg

HCN CONE, FURN, ROOM M kg/kg

HRR ROOM M kW

HRR/A CONE, FURN M kW/m2

HRRTOT ROOM M kJ

IGNITOR ROOM C

IGNTYPE FURN C

INERTIA LIFT M kW2 · s · m-4 · K-2

IRRAD CONE, FURN, ROOM M kW/m2
Method Measurements

Derived Measurement Method Short Label Measure/Condition Data Acquisition

Units

40

LOCATION ROOM C

MASS CONE, FURN, ROOM M kg

MASS/A CONE, FURN, ROOM M kg/m2

MASSI CONE, FURN, LIFT, ROOM M kg

MASSF CONE, FURN, LIFT, ROOM M kg

MASSFLOW ROOM M kg/s

MASSLOSS CONE, FURN, LIFT, ROOM M kg

MAXEXT ROOM M m2

/s

MAXMDOT CONE, FURN, ROOM M g/(s·m2

)

MAXQDOT CONE, FURN, ROOM M kW/m2

MAXSIGMA CONE, FURN, ROOM M m2/kg

MAXTIME CONE, FURN, ROOM M s

MDOT60 CONE, FURN, ROOM M g/(s·m2

)

MDOT180 CONE, FURN, ROOM M g/(s·m2)

MDOT300 CONE, FURN, ROOM M g/(s·m2

)

MLR CONE, FURN, ROOM M g/s

MLR/A CONE, FURN, ROOM M g/(s·m2)

MOUNT ROOM C

O2STACK CONE, FURN, ROOM M

O2SUPPLY CONE, FURN, ROOM M

ORIENT CONE C

OXYGEN CONE, FURN, ROOM C

PHI LIFT M kW2

/m3

PILOT CONE C

PRESORI CONE, FURN, ROOM M Pa

PRESPROB FURN, ROOM M Pa

PRESTUBE FURN, ROOM M Pa

QDOT60 CONE, FURN, ROOM M kW/m2

QDOT180 CONE, FURN, ROOM M kW/m2
Method Measurements

Derived Measurement Method Short Label Measure/Condition Data Acquisition

Units

41

QDOT300 CONE, FURN, ROOM M kW/m2

QIG LIFT M kW/m2

QSMIN LIFT M kW/m2

RHCOND CONE, FURN, LIFT, ROOM C

RHTEST CONE, FURN, LIFT, ROOM C

SEA CONE, FURN, ROOM M m2/kg

SEARATE CONE, FURN, ROOM M m2

/s

SIGMA60 CONE, FURN, ROOM M m2/kg

SIGMA180 CONE, FURN, ROOM M m2

/kg

SIGMA300 CONE, FURN, ROOM M m2

/kg

SOOT CONE, FURN, ROOM M kg/kg

SOOTMASS CONE, FURN, ROOM M kg/s

SUMEXT ROOM M m2

SURFDENS ROOM C kg/m3

TEMP1 CONE, FURN, ROOM M (C

TEMP2 CONE, FURN, ROOM M (C

TEMP3 CONE, FURN, ROOM M (C

TEMPCOND CONE, FURN, LIFT, ROOM C (C

TEMPFLOW FURN, ROOM M (C

TEMPGAS ROOM M (C

TEMPLAS CONE M (C

TEMPORI CONE M (C

TEMPSMK CONE, FURN, ROOM M (C

TEMPSURF ROOM M (C

TEMPSTCK ROOM M (C

TEMPTEST CONE, FURN, LIFT, ROOM C (C

TIG LIFT M (C

TIGN CONE, FURN, LIFT, ROOM M s

TOTLHEAT CONE, FURN, ROOM M MJ
Method Measurements

Derived Measurement Method Short Label Measure/Condition Data Acquisition

Units

42

TOTLHEAT/A CONE, FURN, ROOM M MJ/m2

TSMIN LIFT M (C

TSTAR LIFT M s

TUH CONE, FURN, ROOM M kg/kg

TUHSTACK CONE, FURN, ROOM M

TUHYIELD CONE, FURN, ROOM M kg/kg

VOLLAS CONE M m3

/s

VOLSTACK CONE, FURN, ROOM M m3/s

2.7 Fire Test Results

The physical file implementation for the fire setup condition values requires several files. The

need for this type of implementation can be seen when the formats of the values are considered. 

Because the set of derived measurements specified as setup conditions has a variety of value

formats, for example, integer, floating point, or string, implementation in one combined file

requires that the value field be stored as a variable length string. The physical file TESTCOND

replaces the three files TSTCONDI, TSTCONDR, and TSTCONDS in earlier designs.

The physical file implementation for the fire test measurements is similar to the setup condition

values. Similar to the TESTCOND file, the TSTMEASI, TSTMEASR, and TSTMEASS files

have been combined into one TESTMEAS file. 

Vector value test measurements require a third type of file implementation. Several alternatives

were considered for the implementation of the vector values. One alternative stores all vector

measurements for a test in a common external file with a file identifier stored as a field for that

test in FDMS. This is the approach used in FDMS 1.0. With this implementation approach,

queries for the results of a particular measurement involve reading all entries in the file and

selecting the appropriate time and value entries. This is a time-consuming interface for fire

models since multiple disk accesses are involved making this approach unacceptable. A more

traditional database approach stores one record for each derived measurement scan using a

particular instrument and position. For example, suppose stored vector values for the carbon

dioxide concentration in the exhaust stack are queried for the value at time 20 seconds. Seven

CO2STACK records are stored:

 CO2STACK 0 .141575

 CO2STACK 5 0.1511
43

 CO2STACK 10 0.181125

 CO2STACK 15 0.238425

 CO2STACK 20 0.2998

 CO2STACK 25 0.35435

 CO2STACK 30 0.408925

To determine the value at time 20 seconds, one disk access is required. However, the time values

must be repeated for each distinct derived measurement scan. For an FDMS application using

floating point time values, storage requirements for the time and value pair are 8 bytes for each

record entry. Also, since the time is part of the primary index with this approach, an entry is also

required in the index file. Entries in the index file are stored as string equivalents rather than the

4 byte floating point representation. Consequently, for each time and value pair in the database, a

minimum of 12 bytes is required for storage. The approach implemented in FDMS combines the

two previous approaches and creates one database record for each derived measurement. Vector

values are stored as a comma-delimited string. This approach provides quick access to a

particular measurement but requires accessing a separate TIME record to determine individual

time points. For the previous example, two vector records are stored as follows:

 TIME 0,5,10,15,20,25,30

 CO2STACK 0.141575,0.1511,0.181125,0.238425,0.2998,0.35435,0.408925

To determine the value at time 20 seconds, the TIME record is accessed first. The number of

values until time 20 is counted, in this case, 5. The CO2STACK record is now accessed and the

string parsed until the fifth value is read. The answer to the query is 0.2998. Aside from two

disk accesses, this parsing takes place in memory and should be fast. Storage requirements are

determined by the length of each observation value represented as a string. However, since time

is not repeated and is not stored as part of the index, storage of the floating point values as string

values should require less storage space than the traditional database approach.

The primary key identifier for a particular test run stored in FDMS is a combination of the test

method, the laboratory, the testdate, and a laboratory assigned internal test number. Since this

primary key must be repeated for each record in the setup condition and test measurement

physical files for that test, a large amount of storage space is required. For this reason, a unique

unsigned 4 byte integer identifier is assigned by FDMS to each unique combination of test

method, laboratory, testdate, and test number. This assigned test identifier, TESTID, is then

stored for all related test records. The TESTID field is specific to local installations. If the

combination of test method, laboratory, testdate, and test number do not already exist in the

central database, a new TESTID value is generated.

Similarly, the primary key identifier for a set of vector test measurement scans is the derived

measurement, the instrument used, and the x,y, and z positions of that instrument. This

combination is assigned a unique unsigned 2 byte integer identifier, TESTIID, by FDMS to

reduce the storage requirements for each scan of that measure in the vector value file. If TIME

scan values are different for different derived measurements within a test method, an additional
44

TSTINSTR entry can be created for the TESTID which then generates a new TESTIID field to

distinguish the two types of time scans.

2.7.1 TEST

The new field PEERSTAT provides an indicator of the status of the peer review process for

individual tests stored in the Internet database.

 Field Related/Choice

 Name Type Width Decimal File Field

METHID String 10 METHOD METHID

LABID String 10 ORGANISE ORGID

TESTDATE Date

TESTNO UShort

TESTID ULong

SPONID String 10 ORGANISE ORGID

SPCONTID String 10 PEOPLE PERSONID

OFFID String 10 PEOPLE PERSONID

OPERID String 10 PEOPLE PERSONID

REPDATE Date

RECEIVED Date

LAST_UPD Date

PRIVATE Choice

PEERSTAT Logical *** NEW ***

SUMFLAG Logical

ADMIN VString

PROJECT VString

2.7.2 TSTINSTR

The new field DRVID addresses an oversight of the original design. The previous design

indicated that the TESTIID field was generated to represent a unique combination of TESTID,

DRVID, INSTRID, CVOL, and position within in the related TESTMEAS file. However, the

DRVID field was inadvertently left out of the specified format. The field type for TESTIID has

been changed from ushort to ulong as a requirement for allowing the database engine to

automatically sequence this field. The XPOS, YPOS, and ZPOS fields have been combined with

the CVOL field into a variable length string field. These values were not always available for

stored instrumentations, and the level of detail implied was not required when exporting data to

ASCII files. When exact positions are reported, the information is stored in combination with

the instrumentation description as a text string. The field type for INTERVAL has been changed

from ushort to float to accommodate values reported in contributed data files.
45

 Field Related/Choice

 Name Type Width Decimal File Field

TESTID ULong TEST TESTID

DRVID String 10 DRVDMEAS DRVID *** NEW ***

TESTIID ULong

INSTRID String 10 INSTR INSTRID

CHANNEL UShort

SCANS UShort

INTERVAL Float

CVOL VString

2.7.3 TESTPROD

The new field SPORG addresses an oversight of the original design. The file PRODSUPP

provided for tracking all organizations which supplied a type of material, but no provision was

made for indicating which organization was responsible for supplying the material for a

particular test. The CVOL, XPOS, YPOS, and ZPOS fields provide for tracking of the

compartment or control volume details of the location of each product tested in full-scale tests. 

Finally, the field MASS has been added to allow for specimen deviations from the design mass

of a product tested. The design mass is stored in a corresponding field in the PRODUCT file. 

The order of the fields TESTID and PRODID has been reversed from the original design

specification to correctly generate indices.

 Field Related/Choice

 Name Type Width Decimal File Field

TESTID ULong TEST TESTID

PRODID String 10 PRODUCT PRODID

SPORG String 10 ORGANISE ORGID *** NEW ***

SPDATE Date

CVOL String 10 TESTCVOL CVOL *** NEW ***

XPOS Float *** NEW ***

YPOS Float *** NEW ***

ZPOS Float *** NEW ***

DENSITY Float

AREA Float

THICK Float

MASS Float *** NEW ***

2.7.4 TESTCOND

The physical file TESTCOND replaces the three files TSTCONDI, TSTCONDR, and

TSTCONDS in earlier designs. The field type for VALUE has been changed to the new vlength

field type.

 Field Related/Choice

 Name Type Width Decimal File Field

TESTID ULong TEST TESTID

DRVID String 10 DRVDMEAS DRVID

VALUE VLength
46

2.7.5 TESTMEAS

The physical file TESTMEAS replaces the three files TSTMEASI, TSTMEASR, and

TSTMEASS in earlier designs. The order of the fields DRVID and TESTIID has been reversed

from the original design specification to correctly generate indices. The new field TIMEID was

needed to identify measurements for alternate time lines. The field type for TESTIID has been

changed from ushort to ulong to correspond with the change in the TSTINSTR file. The field

type for VALUE has been changed to the new vlength field type.

 Field Related/Choice

 Name Type Width Decimal File Field

TESTID ULong TEST TESTID

DRVID String 10 DRVDMEAS DRVID

TESTIID ULong TESTINSTR TESTIID

TIMEID UShort *** NEW ***

VALUE VLength

2.7.6 TSTMEASV

 Field Related/Choice

 Name Type Width Decimal File Field

TESTID ULong TEST TESTID

TESTIID UShort TESTINSTR TESTIID

DRVID String 10 DRVDMEAS DRVID

VALUE VString

2.7.7 TESTNOTE

 Field Related/Choice

 Name Type Width Decimal File Field

TESTID ULong TEST TESTID

SEQNO UShort

NOTE VString

2.7.8 TESTDOC

This file is used to store documents relating specifically to tests performed. The previous design

provided for a tie between documents and descriptions of the test methodology, but made no

provision for tieing documents to reports or journal articles describing the results of the test.

 Field Related/Choice

 Name Type Width Decimal File Field

TESTID ULong TEST TESTID

DOCID String 10 DOCUMENT DOCID
47

2.7.9 TESTCVOL

This file is used to store descriptions of various compartments, control volumes, or observation

areas for full-scale tests including dimensions of each control volume, the type of burner used,

and the location of the burner within the control volume.

 Field Related/Choice

 Name Type Width Decimal File Field

TESTID ULong TEST TESTID

CVOL String 10

WIDTH Float

DEPTH Float

HEIGHT Float

BURNSTD String 10

BXPOS Float

BYPOS Float

BZPOS Float

2.7.10 SUMMARY

Once real-scale tests are imported into the FDMS format, the storage requirements of the data

could quickly overload most storage platforms. For this reason, an additional physical file is

provided to store the definitions of polynomial curves over a variety of time intervals for any of

the derived measures recorded in the test. These curves can be used to reproduce statistically

acceptable values for the original measures, but cannot be expected to produce exact values. 

Consider a test with scans every 5 seconds for 4 hours producing results for 50 measures

throughout a room. This test will require space for (12 scans/minute) * (60 minutes/ hour) * (4

hours/measure) * (50 measures) = 144,000 results in the TSTMEASV file. If instead these

values can be represented with 5 curves for each measure, and each curve is a polynomial of

degree 3, the required space becomes (4 coefficients/curve) * (5 curves/ measure) * (50

measures) = 1000 results. The savings in space for large quantities of data can be easily seen.

Such summary files are envisioned for non-standardized, real-scale tests only. Results for these

types of types can be distributed from a central database as either full vector values or the

summary curves. All other data would be distributed as full vector values.

 Field Related/Choice

 Name Type Width Decimal File Field

TESTID ULong TEST TESTID

TESTIID UShort TESTINSTR TESTIID

DRVID String 10 DRVDMEAS DRVID

ISTART Float

PDEGREE UShort

COEF0 Float

COEF1 Float

COEF2 Float
48

COEF3 Float

COEF4 Float

COEF5 Float

2.8 Instrumentation Types

2.8.1 INSTRUM

 Field Related/Choice

 Name Type Width Decimal File Field

INSTRID String 10

LAST_UPD Date

PRIVATE Choice

SERIAL VString

2.8.2 INSTRBAS

 Field Related/Choice

 Name Type Width Decimal File Field

INSTRMAN String 10 INSTR INSTRID

INSTRSUB String 10 INSTR INSTRID

2.8.3 INSTRNOT

 Field Related/Choice

 Name Type Width Decimal File Field

INSTRID String 10 INSTR INSTRID

SEQNO UShort

NOTE VString

2.8.4 Initial Installation Data

Instrumentation types will be stored in a file which can be expanded by the user. Instrument

types which have been identified and will be provided with an installed FDMS system are listed

below. Additional common instrumentation not included in this list should be noted so that they

can be included with each initial installation of FDMS rather than requiring each user to create

their own.
49

Table 5. FDMS Instrumentation Types

Instrument Type

Carbon Dioxide Analyzer

Carbon Monoxide Analyzer

Heat Flux Meter

Load Cell

Oxygen Analyzer

Pressure Transducer

Smoke Extinction Laser System

Type K thermocouple

Water Vapor Analyzer

2.9 Laboratory Instrumentation

2.9.1 INSTRUM

 Field Related/Choice

 Name Type Width Decimal File Field

INSTRID String 10

MAKERID String 10 ORGANISE ORGID

INSTRTYP String 10 INSTRUM INSTRID

COMMDATE Date

CALINTER UShort

CALDATE Date

LAST_UPD Date

PRIVATE Choice

SERIAL VString

2.9.2 INSTRBAS

 Field Related/Choice

 Name Type Width Decimal File Field

INSTRMAN String 10 INSTR INSTRID

INSTRSUB String 10 INSTR INSTRID

COMPDATE Date

COMPTIME UShort
50

2.9.3 INSTRNOT

 Field Related/Choice

 Name Type Width Decimal File Field

INSTRID String 10 INSTR INSTRID

SEQNO UShort

NOTE VString

2.9.4 CALIB

 Field Related/Choice

 Name Type Width Decimal File Field

INSTRID String 10 INSTR INSTRID

CALDATE Date

OPERID String 10 PEOPLE PERSONID

OFFID String 10 PEOPLE PERSONID

CONV Choice

PDEGREE UShort

COEF0 Float

COEF1 Float

COEF2 Float

COEF3 Float

COEF4 Float

COEF5 Float

CALFILE VString

2.9.5 CALIBNOT

 Field Related/Choice

 Name Type Width Decimal File Field

INSTRID String 10 INSTR INSTRID

CALDATE Date

SEQNO UShort

NOTE VString

2.9.6 CHOICE

Entries for choice field types in any FDMS file must link to a CHOICE data file using a primary

key derived from the file name, the choice field name, and one of the possible choices for that

field. All available choices for a field can be enumerated using the file name and choice field

name to match entries in the CHOICE data file. The one exception is the key for available

display units for base measures in BASEMEAS. In this case, selection is achieved using the file

name and the BASEID entry for the base measure, e.g., temperature or pressure. Enumerated

choices for each field can be found in the description of that field in section 4. The code for each

enumerated choice are the underlined letters of the choice value. Storage space required for a

choice field in a linked data file are the character codes required to uniquely select a choice from
51

the list. The use of several letters to represent the choice was done to simplify selection of codes

for similar phrases and to accommodate current SI representation for measurement units.

The field FILE has been deleted. Choice selection is now keyed off the FIELD entry, and allows

a finite list of choices to be shared between files provided each file uses the same field name.

 Field Related/Choice

 Name Type Width Decimal File Field

FIELD String 8

CODE String 4

VALUE VString
52
53

3 FDMS File Definitions

Table 6. FDMS File Definitions

File Definitions

File Purpose

AFFILIAT Indicates affiliations between an individual and an organization

AFFNOTES Notes pertaining to an entry in AFFILIAT.

BASEMEAS A set of FDMS provided base measures. Used for creating all derived measurements in

FDMS.

CALIB Calibration entries for laboratory instrumentation.

CALIBNOT Notes pertaining to an entry in CALIB.

DOCNOTE Notes pertaining to an entry in DOCUMENT.

DOCUMENT A set of documents specifying fire test methods.

DRVDBASE Indicates combination of base measures from BASEMEAS required to generate an entry in

DRVDMEAS.

DRVDMEAS A set of derived measures from the base measures in BASEMEAS.

DRVDNOTE Notes pertaining to an entry in DRVDMEAS.

INSTRBAS Indicates components of laboratory instrumentation in INSTRUM.

INSTRNOT Notes pertaining to an entry in INSTRUM.

INSTRUM A set of laboratory specific instrumentation at local FDMS sites or instrumentation types at

the central FDMS database site.

METHACQU The data acquisition units for each component base measure of a derived measurement. Used

in data conversion when importing data to the database.

METHCOND Setup conditions for a particular fire test method.

METHDOC Documents describing a particular fire test method.

METHMEAS Measurements for a particular fire test method.

METHNOTE Notes pertaining to an entry in METHOD.

METHOD A set of fire test methods available in FDMS.

ORGANISE A set of organizations involved with the collection or evaluation of fire test results.

ORGNOTES Notes pertaining to an entry in ORGANISE.

PEOPLE A set of fire professionals.

PERNOTES Notes pertaining to an entry in PEOPLE.

PRODBASE Indicates components of a product in PRODUCT.

PRODNOTE Notes pertaining to an entry in PRODUCT.

PRODSUPP Indicates suppliers of a product entry in PRODUCT.

PRODUCT A set of products for which fire tests are typically conducted.
Table 6. FDMS File Definitions

File Definitions

File Purpose

54

TEST Descriptions of all fire tests stored in FDMS.

TESTCVOL Descriptions of various compartments, control volumes, or observation areas for a test.

TESTDOC Documents describing a particular test performed.

TESTNOTE Notes pertaining to an entry in TEST.

TESTPROD Products from PRODUCT which were tested for an entry in TEST.

TESTCOND Condition values for an entry in TEST.

TSTINSTR Instruments from INSTRUM which were used to measure results for an entry in TEST.

TESTMEAS Test results for an entry in TEST.
55

4 FDMS Field Definitions

Table 7. FDMS Field Definitions

Field Definitions

Field File Description

ADDRESS1 ORGANISE,

AFFILIAT

Street address.

ADDRESS2 ORGANISE,

AFFILIAT

Additional mailing information.

ADMIN DOCUMENT,

TEST

Laboratory specific code used to store internal administrative

information such as Cost Center code or invoice number for test or

assigned organization code for document.

AREA TESTPROD Specimen area. For the Cone Calorimeter, the area under the

specimen holder edge or the edge frame is not included.

BASEACQU METHACQU Data acquisition units for a base measure component of a derived

measurement within a test method. Used in data conversion when

importing data to the database.
Table 7. FDMS Field Definitions

Field Definitions

Field File Description

56

BASEDISP BASEMEAS Display units for the base measure. User selectable. Choices are:

Temperature Celsius,

Fahrenheit

Absolute Temperature Kelvin,

Rankine

Pressure Pascal,

Atmosphere,

Bar,

Mercury,

Water

Length Meter,

Centimeter,

Millimeter,

Foot,

Inch

Energy Joule,

Kilojoule,

Megajoule,

BTU

Energy Release Rate Watt,

Kilowatt,

Megawatt,

BTU/second,

BTU/hour

Energy Absorption Rate Watt,

Kilowatt,

Megawatt,

BTU/second,

BTU/hour

BASEDISP BASEMEAS Mass Gram,

Kilogram,

Pound

Time Second,

Hour,

Minute

BASEID BASEMEAS,

DRVDBASE,

METHACQU

Short label ID for a base measure. User selectable or computer

generated.

BASENAME BASEMEAS Long label for a base measure. Used to generate a short label ID.

BASEPWR DRVDBASE Power to which a base measure is raised in deriving a derived

measure.
Table 7. FDMS Field Definitions

Field Definitions

Field File Description

57

BASESTOR BASEMEAS Storage units for the base measure. SI units. Units are:

Temperature Kelvin

Absolute Temperature Kelvin

Pressure Pascal

Length Meter

Energy Joule

Energy Release Rate Watt

Mass Kilogram

Time Second

Conductivity Time Second

BURNSTD TESTCVOL Type of burner used to ignite fire. Choices are:

A40: ASTM40

A150: ASTM150

A160: ASTM160

BSI1: BSI Source #1, butane burner

BSI2: BSI Source #2, butane burner

BSI3: BSI Source #3, butane burner

BSI4: BSI Source #4, 8.5 g crib (1.0 kW)

BSI5: BSI Source #5, 17 g crib (1.9 kW)

BSI6: BSI Source #6, 60 g crib (3.5 kW)

BSI7: BSI Source #7, 126 g crib (7.0 kW)

I100: ISO100

I300: ISO300

NBSW: NBS wastebasket burner, 50 kW methane

NCRB: NORDTEST crib, 126 g

OTHR: Other

SBA: Alternative sand burner (305 mm x 305 mm)

SBS: Standard sand burner (170 mm x 170 mm)

TFRS: FRS T-head burner, 25 kW propane

BXPOS TESTCVOL X position of the burner within the control volume.

BYPOS TESTCVOL Y position of the burner within the control volume.

BZPOS TESTCVOL Z position of the burner within the control volume.

CALDATE INSTR, CALIB,

CALIBNOT

Date of the last calibration.

CALFILE CALIB Reference field indicating where the original or official calibration

report may be found, e.g., a report number or a notebook page. Most

laboratories will have a different system for doing this.

CALINTER INSTRUM Recommended calibration interval in months.
Table 7. FDMS Field Definitions

Field Definitions

Field File Description

58

CATNO PRODSUPP Optional catalog number since it may not exist for all products. May

include alphabetical characters as well as numbers.

CHANNEL TSTINSTR Channel number used for laboratory instrument during test.

CITY ORGANISE,

AFFILIAT

City name.

CODE CHOICE Choices for entry into a database structure field when that field allows

limited number of possible entries, e.g.., MAINUSE to select type of

usage for a product in the PRODUCT file.

COEF0 CALIB,

SUMMARY

Coefficient required for the polynomial conversion of instrument data

to physical units, or summary data to fire test vector values. Refer to

the conversion equations in the CONV field description for exact

details involving polynomial conversion.

COEF1 CALIB,

SUMMARY

Optional coefficient required for the polynomial conversion of

instrument data to physical units, or summary data to fire test vector

values. Refer to the conversion equations in the CONV field

description for exact details involving polynomial conversion.

COEF2 CALIB,

SUMMARY

Optional coefficient required for the polynomial conversion of

instrument data to physical units, or summary data to fire test vector

values. Refer to the conversion equations in the CONV field

description for exact details involving polynomial conversion.

COEF3 CALIB,

SUMMARY

Optional coefficient required for the polynomial conversion of

instrument data to physical units, or summary data to fire test vector

values. Refer to the conversion equations in the CONV field

description for exact details involving polynomial conversion.

COEF4 CALIB,

SUMMARY

Optional coefficient required for the polynomial conversion of

instrument data to physical units, or summary data to fire test vector

values. Refer to the conversion equations in the CONV field

description for exact details involving polynomial conversion.

COEF5 CALIB,

SUMMARY

Optional coefficient required for the polynomial conversion of

instrument data to physical units, or summary data to fire test vector

values. Refer to the conversion equations in the CONV field

description for exact details involving polynomial conversion.

COMMDATE INSTRUM Date the instrument was first commissioned.

COMPDATE INSTRBAS Date the laboratory instrument composition was modified.

COMPOS PRODUCT Indicates if the product is a composite.

COMPTIME INSTRBAS Time the laboratory instrument composition was modified.
Table 7. FDMS Field Definitions

Field Definitions

Field File Description

59

COND PRODUCT Conductivity of the product.

CONV CALIB Type of conversion of instrument data to physical units. Three types

of conversion are possible: polynomial, logarithmic, and Type K

thermocouples. 

For polynomial conversion, CONV contains a capital P with the

degree of the polynomial specified in PDEGREE. Required constants

are entered in the CONST fields. The polynomial conversion

equation is:

(physical units) = COEF0

+ COEF1 * (analog units)

+ COEF2 * (analog units)2

+ COEF3 * (analog units)3

+ COEF4 * (analog units)4

+ COEF5 * (analog units)5.

For logarithmic conversion, CONV contains LOG. The logarithmic

conversion equation is:

(physical units) = COEF0 

* ln(1 - CONST1*(analog units))

If CONV contains TYPEK, the software will perform an automatic

conversion to the physical temperature units using built in conversion

algorithms.

COUNTRY ORGANISE,

AFFILIAT

Country name, common name instead of full name (e.g., USA, not

United States of America)

CVOL TESTCVOL, 

TESTPROD,

TSTINSTR

Control volume describing a compartment or control area where a

product, or instrument was placed, e.g., stack, ceiling, floor, etc..

DATAACQU METHMEAS Indicates when user specified data acquisition units should be used for

data conversion or the default SI storage units. Used in data

conversion when importing data to the database.

DATE_BEG AFFILIAT Date affiliation between individual and organization began.

DATE_END AFFILIAT Date affiliation between individual and organization ended.

DELETED ALL Used by the database system to indicate a deleted record.

DENSITY PRODUCT,

TESTPROD

Density of the composite product specimen or the component layer.
Table 7. FDMS Field Definitions

Field Definitions

Field File Description

60

DEPTH TESTCVOL Depth of the control volume entry.

DIVISION ORGANISE Division/department/branch (e.g., Building and Fire Research

Laboratory).

DOCDATE DOCUMENT Date document was accepted as standard.

DOCID DOCUMENT,

DOCNOTE,

METHDOC

Number of a document proposing a fire test method or describing a

test conducted.

DOCORG DOCUMENT ORGID number from the ORGANISE table for the document

standards organization.

DOCSTD DOCUMENT Indicates if document has been accepted as a standard.

DOCTITLE DOCUMENT Title of a document proposing a fire test method or describing a test

conducted.

DOCVIDEO DOCUMENT Indicates if the document stored is a video. This allows for future

development efforts which could allow users of an FDMS database

the ability to play movies stored as documents.

DRVDCML DRVDMEAS Number of decimal positions of derived measure value.

DRVFORM DRVDMEAS Format of derived measure value. Choices are:

Integer

Floating Point

Vector Floating Point

Variable String

DRVID DRVDMEAS,

DRVDNOTE,

DRVDBASE,

METHACQU,

METHMEAS,

TESTCOND,

TESTMEAS,

TSTINSTR,

SUMMARY

Short label ID for a derived measurement. User selectable or

computer generated.

DRVNAME DRVDMEAS Long label for a derived measure. Used to generate a short label ID.

DRVWIDTH DRVDMEAS Number of positions for derived measure value.

E_MAIL ORGANISE,

AFFILIAT

E-mail address.

EMISS PRODUCT Product emissivity.
Table 7. FDMS Field Definitions

Field Definitions

Field File Description

61

FAX ORGANISE,

AFFILIAT

Facsimile number, including country code.

FIELD CHOICE A database structure field name required to obtain list of possible

choices for entry into the database, e.g.., MAINUSE to select type of

usage for a product in the PRODUCT file.

FRSTNAME PEOPLE First name of the individual.

HEIGHT PRODUCT Designed height of the product specimen or component layer.

HEIGHT TESTCVOL Height of the control volume entry.

INSTRID INSTRUM,

INSTRBAS,

INSTRNOT,

CALIB,

CALIBNOT,

TSTINSTR

Short Label ID for the instrument type at the central database or the

specific laboratory instrument for local site installations. User

selectable or computer generated.

INSTRMAN INSTRBAS INSTRID from INSTRUM table for a composite instrument.

INSTRSUB INSTRBAS INSTRID from INSTRUM table for a component instrument.

INSTRTYP INSTRUM INSTRID for a general instrument type description entry.

INTERVAL TSTINSTR Time interval between two consecutive scans.

ISTART SUMMARY Initial time point for a parameterized curve.

LABID TEST ORGID number from the ORGANISE table for the laboratory where

the test was conducted.

LASTNAME PEOPLE Last name of the individual.

LAST_UPD ORGANISE,

PEOPLE,

AFFILIAT,

PRODUCT,

DRVDMEAS,

METHOD,

DOCUMENT,

TEST,

INSTRUM

When several sources of information are available, it may not be clear

which information is the most current. This field is updated only

when it is known that the information in the record is current and

correct. If any information being entered is uncertain, this field

should be left blank. Such a version of the record is preferentially

discarded when a verified record becomes available.

LAYERID PRODBASE Indicator of the layer of a component in a composite product.

LENGTH PRODUCT Designed length of the product specimen or component layer.
Table 7. FDMS Field Definitions

Field Definitions

Field File Description

62

MAINUSE PRODUCT Main area in which the product is used. Choices are:

AS: Adhesives/Sealants

BS: Building Structure

BF: Building Fabric

CI: Cable Insulation

CT: Clothing/Textiles

DO: Decor/Ornament

FA: Fabric (Furnishings)

FB: Barrier (Furnishings)

FC: Film/Coating

FF: Furnishings

FO: Foam (Furnishings)

MA: Marine

MD: Medical/Dental

MI: Military

PC: Packaging/Containers

SL: Sports/Leisure

SU: Service/Utilities

TI: Thermal Insulation

TR: Transport

MAKERID INSTRUM ORGID number from the ORGANISE table for the company

manufacturing this instrument.

MANUFID PRODSUPP ORGID number from the ORGANISE table for the company

manufacturing this product.

MASS PRODUCT,

TESTPROD

Designed mass for an entry in the PRODUCT file. Deviations from

the designed mass for a product specimen tested in TESTPROD.

METHID METHOD,

METHACQU,

METHMEAS,

METHDOC,

METHNOTE,

TEST

Short label ID for a test method. User selectable or computer

generated.

METHNAME METHOD Long label for a test method. Used to generate a short label ID.

METHTYPE METHOD Type of the test method described. Choices are:

Bench-scale

Intermediate-scale

Real-scale

Model

MIDNAME PEOPLE Middle name of the individual.
Table 7. FDMS Field Definitions

Field Definitions

Field File Description

63

MORPHONE ORGANISE,

AFFILIAT

Telephone extension or an alternative telephone number for an

individual.

NICKNAME PEOPLE Additional first name person is known by.

NOTE ORGNOTES,

PERNOTES,

AFFNOTES,

PRODNOTE,

DRVDNOTE,

METHNOTE,

DOCNOTE,

TESTNOTE,

INSTRNOT,

CALIBNOT

Comments or notes for the associated main files.

OFFID TEST, CALIB PERSONID number from the PEOPLE table for the laboratory officer

responsible for a test. For CALIB, the individual who has signature

authority to issue a calibration report.

OPERID TEST, CALIB PERSONID number from the PEOPLE table for the individual who

performed the test. For CALIB, the individual who actually

performed the calibration.

ORGANISE ORGANISE Name of the organization (e.g., National Institute of Standards and

Technology).

ORGID ORGANISE,

ORGNOTES,

AFFILIAT,

AFFNOTES

Assigned to uniquely identify the organization. User selectable or

computer generated.
Table 7. FDMS Field Definitions

Field Definitions

Field File Description

64

ORGTYPE ORGANISE Type of organization. Choices are:

AR: Architect

CN: Consulting

CS: Codes and Standards

ED: Education

EG: Engineering

FO: Forensics

FR: Fire Research

FS: Fire Service

GO: Government

HC: Health Care

IN: Insurance

MA: Manufacturing

RM: Risk Management

TA: Trade Association

TS: Testing

UT: Utility

PDEGREE SUMMARY,

CALIB

Degree of the polynomial for parameterized curve.

PEERSTAT TEST Indicator of the status of the peer review process for individual tests

stored in the Internet database.

PERSONID PEOPLE,

PERNOTES,

AFFILIAT,

AFFNOTES

Assigned to uniquely identify an individual. This is necessary to

distinguish two people with the same name. User selectable or

computer generated.

PHONE ORGANISE,

AFFILIAT

Telephone, including country code.

POSITION AFFILIAT Position in which the individual is affiliated with an organization.

POSTCODE ORGANISE,

AFFILIAT

Postal code (Zip code for USA).

PRIVATE ORGANISE,

PEOPLE,

AFFILIAT,

PRODUCT,

DRVDMEAS,

METHOD,

DOCUMENT,

TEST,

INSTRUM

Allows a laboratory to define the level of access by other

organizations to test results in the database. Choices are:

 • Allow the data to be exported without allowing

modifications.

 • Purge any test information which might identify the

manufacturer before allowing export.

 • Do not allow export under any circumstances.
Table 7. FDMS Field Definitions

Field Definitions

Field File Description

65

PRODID PRODUCT,

PRODNOTE,

PRODSUPP,

TESTPROD

Assigned to uniquely identify the test product. This is necessary since

many products have similar names which are difficult to distinguish.

PRODMAIN PRODBASE PRODID value from PRODUCT table for the main product

composing the sample.

PRODNAME PRODUCT Commercial name of the test product.

PRODSUB PRODBASE PRODID value from PRODUCT table for the secondary product

composing the sample.

PROJECT TEST Reserved for a laboratory-specific identification of the test series to

which the test belongs. This is typically a way to refer to the

sponsorship of a test. In addition to FILE, some laboratories call this

"Test Code," "Job Number," or "Test Reference."

RECEIVED TEST Date test results were received.

REGION ORGANISE,

AFFILIAT

State for USA, county for UK, etc.

REPDATE TEST Date the test was reported.

SCANS TSTINSTR Total number of scans for the test. For Cone Calorimeter, value is

entered by CONERUN.

SEQNO ORGNOTES,

PERNOTES,

AFFNOTES,

PRODNOTE,

DRVDNOTE,

METHNOTE,

DOCNOTE,

TESTNOTE,

INSTRNOT,

CALIBNOT

Sequence for the comment or note. 

SERIAL INSTRUM Identical to the header line "SERIAL NAME" imported as part of the

raw data.

SPCONTID TEST PERSONID number from the PEOPLE table for the contact person at

the sponsoring organization.

SPDATE TESTPROD Supply date for test product.

SPHEAT PRODUCT Product specific heat.
Table 7. FDMS Field Definitions

Field Definitions

Field File Description

66

SPONID TEST ORGID number from the ORGANISE table for the sponsoring

organization.

SPORG TESTPROD ORGID number from the ORGANISE table for the organization

supplying the product.

SUMFLAG TEST Logical indicator for vector values stored as observed values in

TESTMEAS or parameterized curve in SUMMARY.

TELEX ORGANISE,

AFFILIAT

Telex number.

TESTDATE TEST Date the original test was run.

TESTID TEST,

TSTINSTR,

TESTPROD,

TESTMEAS,

TESTCOND,

TESTNOTE,

SUMMARY

An internal integer assignment to reduce storage requirements for a

unique test identifier. A unique identifier is determined by LABID,

TESTDATE, INSTRNO, and TESTNO. This assignment requires

less storage space.

TESTIID TSTINSTR,

TESTMEAS,

SUMMARY

A similar assignment to TESTID except that assignment is based on

instrument and position so that the same instrument can be used to

measure a value at several positions within the test environment.

TESTNO TEST Serial test number assigned. It is specific to the laboratory and to an

instrument. For the Cone Calorimeter, it is assigned by the

CONERUN software.

THICK PRODUCT,

TESTPROD

Designed thickness of the composite product or product component

layer. Deviations from designed thickness for test specimens.

TIMEID TESTMEAS Identify alternate time lines.

TITLE PEOPLE Professional titles such as Professor or Dr. Position titles should be

stored in the POSITION field of the AFFILIAT file.

VALUE TESTMEAS,

TESTCOND,

CHOICE

Value of the test measure or condition or a description string for a

code entry in the CHOICE file.

WIDTH TESTCVOL Width of the control volume entry.

XPOS TESTPROD,

TSTINSTR

X position of a fire test instrument or product within a specified

control volume.

YPOS TESTPROD,

TSTINSTR

Y position of a fire test instrument or product within a specified

control volume.
Table 7. FDMS Field Definitions

Field Definitions

Field File Description

67

ZPOS TESTPROD,

TSTINSTR

Z position of a fire test instrument or product within a specified

control volume.
68
69

5 FDMS Export Format

The FDMS exchange format includes all information needed to completely describe a test stored

in a FDMS 2.0 format database. This includes supplemental information such as details of the

organization laboratory where the test was conducted, details of the product tested including

component materials and supplier, and details of the test methodology such as Cone Calorimeter

or some type of full-scale test. The FDMS exchange format enables laboratories to describe in

detail tests conducted at their installation and to contribute the results of those tests for inclusion

in the Internet database. For laboratory data to be included in the Internet database, each test

must be stored in the FDMS exchange format following guidelines specified in section 6. For

users of the Internet software, the FDMS exchange format allows selected tests to be transferred

to individual FDMS 1.0 database programs. 

The exchange format is subdivided into several sections individually prefaced by the TABLE key

word. Each TABLE key word corresponds to a physical database file as detailed in section 3 of

the FDMS 2.0 Technical Documentation [5] ( and updated in section 5 of this report). Within a

TABLE section, the physical file is indicated by entry of the file name on the line immediately

following the key word. For a current example of the FDMS exchange format, it is

recommended that the user use the Internet database to generate a FDMS exchange file for any of

the tests currently available.

5.1 Test General Description

 

Specification of a test in the FDMS exchange format requires that the file begin with a TABLE

key word followed immediately on the next line with a description of the test type. For example,

to indicate a Cone Calorimeter test, the file would begin with:

TABLE

CONE

For each type of information available for a test, specification continues by using the

corresponding field name from the physical file structure on one line followed by the detailed

information on a separate line. Field names used in describing tests can be found in subsection

3.6.1 of the FDMS 2.0 Technical Documentation [5]. For example, if the laboratory responsible

for conducting the test was the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), an entry

similar to the following should be made:

LABID

NIST

To indicate the date the test was conducted, the following entry would be required:
70

TESTDATE

06/06/95

Specification of the test continues in this manner until all available details have been entered. 

There is no required order for the TEST physical file fields within the exchange format except for

the requirement that the TABLE key word followed by test type be the first two lines of the

exchange format file. If details for any of the TEST physical file fields are unavailable, the field

key word and detail line can be excluded from the exchange file, or the key word can be entered

followed by a blank line. For example, if the operator for the test is not known, the OPERID key

word does not need to be entered. If it is entered, leave a blank line before continuing with other

fields.

To uniquely identify a test, the following key words must be included (Note that lines following

each key word below are examples only; entries are dependent on details for each contributed

test):

TABLE

CONE

LABID

NIST

TESTDATE

12/14/87

TESTNO

1

5.2 Test Conditions

Test conditions describe important setup aspects for each test. Examples of test conditions

include ambient temperature, relative humidity, and orientation of panels. Test conditions are

specified by a key word indicating the type of condition followed by the value for that condition

on the following line. Test conditions can be single integer or floating point values, multiple

numeric values representing points on a curve, or text strings. Some examples of test conditions

for a Cone Calorimeter test include:

FLUX

50

ORIENT

H

PILOT

Y

For a Room/Corner test, specification of the burner heat release rate would be:
71

BURNER

0 40 600 300

For each test condition, select a measure key word from Table 3 in section 5.3 of this report. If an

appropriate measure key word does not exist in the table, assign a new code and enter as the key

word line with (C) following the key word to indicate this represents a new test condition. For

example, a new condition RHAMB would be entered as:

RHAMB (C)

This is a string describing ambient relative humidity prior to running the test.

Test condition key words can be entered in the FDMS exchange file in any order and can be

intermixed with test detail fields. Test condition key words must be entered between the TABLE

key word entry indicating the test type and any other supplemental TABLE key word entries.

5.3 Test Products

The test product section of the exchange file specifies the product database code and

characteristic dimensions of the material(s) or object(s) on which the test was run. For each

unique product code listed in the test product section of the exchange file, there should be a

corresponding detail entry. Refer to subsection 5.5 for product detail specifications.

A PRODIDn entry should be made for each product tested where n varies from 1 to 9. On the

line following the PRODIDn entry, enter a database code for the corresponding product. Follow

each PRODIDn entry with AREA, THICK, and DENSITY entries with corresponding value lines

for each of the three key words. For example, if the product tested was a fire-resistant

polystyrene with area of .01m2

 and thickness of 1mm, the following would be included in the

FDMS exchange file for the test:

PRODID1

FRPOLYSTYRN

AREA

0.01

THICK

.001

It is important to note that numeric values for test products in the exchange file are not converted

during the import. It is recommended that all measures with similar base measure origins use

consistent SI units. In the above example, area and thickness both use length as the base measure

with SI units of (m).
72

Test product key words can be intermixed in the FDMS exchange file with test detail fields. 

However, the AREA, THICK, and DENSITY key words should be kept with the corresponding

PRODIDn key word. Test product entries must be entered between the TABLE key word entry

indicating the test type and any other supplemental TABLE key word entries.

5.4 Test Notes

Comments and observations about the fire test are stored in the test notes section of the exchange

file. Each comment line is prefaced on the preceding line by a key word of the form

COMMENTn where n varies from 1 through 5. Test note key words can be intermixed in the

FDMS exchange file with test detail fields. Test note entries must be entered between the

TABLE key word entry indicating the test type and any other supplemental TABLE key word

entries. An example of notes for a test:

COMMENT1

Flaming out time 4 minutes and 49 seconds 

COMMENT2

Spark ignited used--tuh is down--no soot collected

5.5 Supplementary File Information

For each entry from the test description section of the exchange file that specifies a database

code, a supplementary file information section should be included. For example, if the test

laboratory specified was NIST, a supplementary ORGANISE file section should be included:

TABLE

RECORD

ORGANISE

ORGID

NIST

ORGANISE

National Institute of Standards and Technology

DIVISION

Building and Fire Research Laboratory

CITY

Gaithersburg

REGION

MD

POSTCODE

20899

COUNTRY
73

USA

PHONE

(301) 975-6879

Each supplementary file section is prefaced by a TABLE key word corresponding to a physical

database file in Chapter 3 of the FDMS 2.0 Technical Documentation [5] or the addendum

section 5 of this report. Within a TABLE section, the physical file is indicated by entry of the

file name on the line immediately following the key word. For each type of information

available for a file structure, specification continues by using the corresponding field name from

the physical file structure on one line followed by the detailed information on a separate line.

Supplementary file sections should typically be included to detail the organization conducting the

test, the organization sponsoring the test, the officer conducting the test, a contact person

concerning questions about the test, and product details for each material(s), object(s), and

component(s) tested.

5.6 Scalar Test Measures

Scalar test measures are single integer or floating point numeric observations for the test. 

Examples of scalar test measures would be time to ignition, average heat of combustion, or

maximum heat of combustion. Scalar test measures are specified by a key word indicating the

type of measurement followed by the value for that measure on the following line. Some

example scalar test measure key words include:

TIGN

20

AVGHC

2.66689e+6

For each scalar test measurement, select a measure key word from Table 3 in section 5.3 of this

report. If an appropriate measure key word does not exist in the table, assign a new code. For

example, a new scalar measure AVGTEMP would be entered as:

AVGTEMP

300

It is important to note that numeric values for test measures in the exchange file are not converted

during the import. It is recommended that all measures with similar base measure origins use

consistent SI units. For a complete list of the base measures supported by FDMS, see Table 1 in

subsection 3.4.5 of the FDMS 2.0 Technical Documentation [5]. In the above examples, time to

ignition uses SI units of seconds, average heat of combustion uses SI units of J/kg, and average

temperature uses SI units of degrees K.
74

Scalar test measure key words can be entered in the FDMS exchange file in any order and can be

intermixed with test detail fields. Scalar test measure key words must be entered between the

TABLE key word entry indicating the test type and any other supplemental TABLE key word

entries.

5.7 Vector Test Measures

Vector test measures are multiple integer or floating point numeric observations representing a

curve, typically dependent on time, for the test. The vector data section of the exchange file is

always entered after all test details and supplementary file information. The vector data section

is indicated by the key word VECTOR DATA. Specification for each vector data variable

involves 5 heading lines followed by separate lines for each observation on the curve. The 5

heading lines include:

VARIABLE

Instrumentation

Short Label Description

Long Label Description

Units for the Measure

For each vector test measurement, select a measure key word from Table 3 in section 5.3 of this

report. If an appropriate measure key word does not exist in the table, assign a new code.

It is important to note that numeric values for test measures in the exchange file are not converted

during the import. It is recommended that all measures with similar base measure origins use

consistent SI units. For a complete list of the base measures supported by FDMS, see Table 1 in

subsection 3.4.5 of the FDMS 2.0 Technical Documentation [5]. Although the original FDMS

2.0 Technical Documentation provides for conversion of measures and specification of

acquisition units, this has proven difficult to implement due to inconsistent abbreviations for SI

measures as well as inconsistent representation of combined measures between and within

laboratories. For example, mass flow rates may be specified as kg/s, kg/sec, kg*s-1, kg*sec-1, g/s,

g/sec, g*s-1, and g*sec-1. Until a reliable method for identifying components of complex

measurements has been developed, the SI assumption will be made and no conversion of values

will be done.

An example of a vector data section of a FDMS exchange file is:

VECTOR DATA

VARIABLE

Time

TIME

Time from sample insertion
75

S

 0 

 5 

 10 

 15 

 20 

 25 

 30 

 35 

VARIABLE

DERIVED

HRR/A

Heat release rate

W/m2

 0 

 0 

 0 

 0 

 2.38666e5 

 2.96634e5

 2.97947e5 

 2.53458e5 

VARIABLE

DERIVED

MLR/A

Rate of Mass Loss

kg/s*m2

 0 

 0 

 0 

 0 

 1.42541e-2 

 1.42541e-2 

 1.42541e-2

 1.42541e-2 

VARIABLE

DERIVED

HC

Effective Heat of Combustion

J/kg

 0 

 0 

 0 
76

 0 

 1.67969e7 

 1.67969e7 

 1.67969e7 

 1.67969e7 

VARIABLE

DERIVED

SEA

Smoke specific extinction area in exhaust stack

m2/kg

 0 

 0 

 0 

 0 

 39.80252 

 66.90142 

 96.34313 

 120.6028 

Note that each entry has the exact same number of curve entries as every other measure in the

vector measure section. In the above example, each curve has 8 points specified. Also note that

every measure specifies consistent SI units for each of the base measure components. For

example, mass loss rate per unit area is specified as kg/s*m2

, effective heat of combustion is

specified as J/kg, and the smoke specific extinction area is specified as m2/kg. Incorrectly

reported values would result if mass loss rate per unit area was specified as g/s*m2

 while

effective heat of combustion and smoke specific extinction area were reported mass using kg.

Vector test measure entries can be entered in the FDMS exchange file in any order. Vector test

measure key words must be the last section of the exchange file. There should be no TABLE key

word entries after the VECTOR DATA key word specification. 

5.8 Example FDMS Exchange Files

An example of a properly formatted FDMS Exchange files is included as Appendix A for a Cone

Calorimeter test. These examples are complete except for long lists of repeated number in the

vector data. These omissions are indicated in the examples with a series of vertical dots in the

example listings:

.

.

.

.
77

In a complete file, these would simply be a complete list of the values for the associated vector

data.

5.9 Preparing Data in FDMS Exchange Format

At present, files for import into FDMS databases must be prepared in the FDMS exchange file

format. This sections provides an overview of the minimum requirements for a FDMS exchange

format file to facilitate file preparation.

Each file must begin with a TABLE key word followed by the test type:

TABLE

CONE

Uniquely identify each test by providing the laboratory, test date, and laboratory assigned test

number.

LABID

NIST

TESTDATE

10/17/94

TEST

1

Include at least one product.

PRODID1

DGLSFIR

Floating point numbers in database are single-precision; do not include values with more than six

digits of precision.

AVGHC

19.61524

For a file type (TEST, ORGANISE, PRODUCT, etc.), keep all field-related data together; order

is not significant.

TABLE

RECORD

ORGANISE
78

ORGID

NIST

ORGANISE

National Institute of Standards and Technology

.

.

.

.

.

Vector data must follow the VECTOR DATA key word.

VECTOR DATA

VARIABLE

Time

TIME

Time from sample insertion

Sec

0.0

5.0

.

.

.

Unrecognized key words in the import file are treated as new measurements and are imported

into the test measurement file. Scalar versus vector import file parsing is determined by the

measurement position in relation to the VECTOR DATA key word.

Do not use the same measurement name to describe both a scalar and a vector measurement. 

Whenever possible, use the measurement key words specified in table 4.

Do not include extraneous blank lines in the file. 

Individual inputs are limited to a single line. Long titles or descriptions must be on a single line

and cannot extend to a second line. The line length for a single line is not limited however; lines

longer than 80 characters are acceptable.

The FDMS exchange file format is primarily intended for transferring already existing FDMS

data from one database set to another. As such, the format for the file is tightly controlled and

relatively inflexible.
79

6 Review Criteria for FDMS Data

Clearly, the integrity of data in any database is of paramount importance to the utility of the

database. For the database to become useful to a wider audience, information on the quality of

the data in the database must be included as part of the database. The FDMS format is intended

to be used in individual laboratories to store, edit, and retrieve their own test results, as well as a

central repository for contributed data. Any criteria included in the database to indicate the

quality of the data should allow for multiple levels of review and certification to support such a

diverse audience.

In general, the information in this section is adapted from the ASTM guide for database quality

indicators [6]. This guide provides nine indicators to assess the utility of data for the intended

purpose. One of the indicators in the ASTM guide pertains only to the database in its entirety (a

“database supported” field used to indicate the level of active support available to keep the

database current). This indicator is not included for individual tests in a FDMS database.

Recognizing that the original intent of the ASTM document was to apply to scalar values of

chemical property data, the field for “Statistical basis of data” has been simplified to include few

qualifiers more representative of the current state-of-the-art in fire testing. Statistical methods to

compare fire test measurements is an active research area [7]. As appropriate techniques are

better understood, this field can be expanded to include more explicit statistical methods.

Table 7 shows the indicators which are to be used within the NIST implementations of the

FDMS format to qualify each data set included in the database:

1. Source of data – Identifies the type of publication which documents the test. Further

information on the associated documents is included with entries the TESTDOC file by

entries associated to the test by its unique TESTID.

2. Statistical basis of data – indicates to the user a measure of the degree to which data can

be directly compared to other data, if the data can be used for design, or if their principal

value is for rough comparison. For example, single-point test values are of the lowest

reliability for most purposes, but may be of interest for developmental materials or if

replicate or other data are not available.

3. Material development or production status – Is the material currently available, in the

research or development stage, or an obsolete material?

4. Evaluation status – Were the test data generated according to a standard test procedure

and was the data validated by a recognized and competent method? Were the test data

evaluated by an expert body or individual to determine reasonableness, fit with theory, or

expectations?
80

5. Certification status – Were the test data certified by an expert body or individual to

determine their applicability or appropriateness for a specific application?

6. Completeness of materials description – The usefulness of any particular data set is

critically related to the ability of the user of the data to precisely identify the material

which was tested. In addition to identification of the product, manufacturer, or supplier of

the material(s) which were tested, information on the form or condition of the material(s),

processing history, or precise history of the material(s) may be appropriate. These

descriptors indicate to the potential user the nature of the listed properties and their

applicability to a particular purpose.

7. Completeness of test procedure description – This descriptor does not indicate the actual

test procedure used, but will indicate whether or not a standard test procedure was used to

generate the data. Further information on a test procedure is included with entries in the

METHDOC file associated to the test by its unique TESTID.

8. Completeness of material(s) information – at least partial information on material

9. Completeness of test procedure description – any category is acceptable
81

Indicator Description Available Values

1 Source of data set J – Journal publication

H – Handbook publication

G – Government report

P – Producer brochure

U – Unpublished report

X – Source unknown

2 Statistical basis of data set S – Statistical representation of multiple data sets

R – Replicate tests associated with this test are included

in the database

I – Individual test

X – Unknown

3 Material development or production status P – Production material

R – Experimental material

O – Obsolete, no longer in production

4 Evaluation status E – Evaluated independently

S – Evaluated at testing organization

X – Not evaluated

5 Certification status C – Certified independently

S – Certified by testing organization

X – Not certified

6 Completeness of material(s) information F – Full information on material form, condition, and

processing history

P – Partial information on material form, condition, and

processing history

X – No information on material form, condition, or

processing history

7 Completeness of test procedure description S – Standard tests; documented

N – Non-standard tests; documented

X – Test procuedure(s) not documented

Table 7. Quality indicators for data included in FDMS
82
83

[1] Babrauskas, V., Peacock, R.D., Janssens, M., and Batho, N.E., Standardizing the

Exchange of Fire Data - The FDMS, Fire and Materials 15, 85-92 (1991).

[2] Babrauskas, V., Janssens, M., Peacock, R.D., and Batho, N.E., Technical

Documentation and User's Guide for FDMS, A Fire Data Management System,

unpublished (1990).

[3] Dark Star Research Ltd., Penley, Clwyd, England.

[4] FDMS 1.0 version software distributed by Fire Research Station, Borehamwood,

Herts, WD6 2BL, England, attn: S.A. Ames.

[5] Portier,R.W.,Fire Data Management System, FDMS 2.0, Technical Documentation,

Natl. Inst. Stand. Technol., Technical Note 1407 (1995). Also available through the

anonymous ftp site candela.cfr.nist.gov in /pub/reports.

[6] Standard Guide for Formatting and Use of Material and Chemical Property Data and

Database Quality Indicators, Annual Book of ASTM Standards, Vol 14.01, American

Society for Testing and Materials, Philadelphia (1992).

[7] Peacock, R. D., Jones, W. W., and Bukowski, R. W., Verification of a Model of Fire

and Smoke Transport, Fire Safety J. 21 (2), 89-129 (1993).

7 References
84

Appendix A Sample Cone Calorimeter FDMS

Exchange File

TABLE

CONE

QUALITY

0000000

LABID

NIST

TESTDATE

11/4/1992

OPERID

LEEJ

OFFID

OHLEMILIT

SPONID

NIST

SPCONTID

OHLEMILIT

REPDATE

11/5/1992

RECEIVED

11/5/1992

ADMIN

TEST

T5643

PROJECT

ASCARITE (C)

Y

C_CONE (C)

0.0433699

E (C)

12.98

FLOW (C)

24

FLUX (C)

 35000

FRAME (C)

N

GRID (C)

N

ORIENT (C)

H

OXYGEN (C)

20.95
85

PILOT (C) Y

RHCOND (C)

50

RHTEST (C)

50

TEMPCOND (C)

296

PRODID1

MO75NY25FA

PRODORG1

PRODID2

CAL117POL 

PRODORG2

AREA

0.01

DENSITY 0

THICKNESS

0.00508

AVGCO

0.0569845

AVGCO2

0.765017

AVGHC

1.33502E+07

AVGMDOT

0.00705412

AVGQDOT

91203.7

CO180

0.051432

CO2180

0.372119

CO2300

0.910439

CO260

0.335426

CO300

0.0672572

CO60

0.0927525

FLAMEOUT

414

HC180

4.78615E+06

HC300

1.44801E+07

HC60
86

7.05034E+06

MASSF

0.00804759

MASSI

0.0321

MASSLOSS

 2.405240

MAXMDOT

0.0132412

MAXQDOT

306240

MAXTIME

255

MDOT180

0.00508008

MDOT300

0.0069843

MDOT60

0.00648544

QDOT180

28212.3

QDOT300

104236

QDOT60

56302.3

TIGN

21

TOTLHEAT

3.5084E+07

USER$2

-3.492366E-03

USERNUM1

409415

USERNUM2

15.5613

COMMENT1

Flaming out time at 6 minutes and 54 seconds. Sample first

COMMENT2

flaming out at 52 seconds and reflamed again at 3 minutes

COMMENT3

and 20 seconds. Sample flaming at edges of sample at 5

COMMENT4

minutes and 13 seconds. Spark ignited used and turned off

COMMENT5

after ignition of sample. No soot collected-TUH is down

PRIVATE

N

LAST_UPD

0/0/1980

TABLE

RECORD
87

METHOD

METHID

CONE

METHNAME

Cone Calorimeter

TYPE

BNCH

PRIVATE

N

LAST_UPD

7/29/1994

TABLE

RECORD

ORGANISE

ORGID

NIST

ORGAN

National Institute of Standards and Technology

DIVISION

ADDRESS1

ADDRESS2

CITY

REGION

POSTCODE

COUNTRY

PHONE

MPHONE

FAX

TELEX

EMAIL

TYPE

PRIVATE

LAST_UPD

0/0/1980

TABLE

RECORD

PEOPLE
88

PERSONID

LEEJ

LASTNAME

Lee

FRSTNAME

Jack

MIDNAME

NICKNAME

PRIVATE

N

LAST_UPD

11/9/1994

TABLE

RECORD

PRODUCT

PRODID

MO75NY25FA

PRODNAME

Modacrylic 75%, Nylon 25% Fabric

MAINUSE

COMPOS

YES

PRODENSI

0

PROLENGTH

0

PROHEIGHT

0

PROTHICK

0

PROCOND

0

PROSHEAT

0

PROEMISS

0

PRIVATE

NO

LAST_UPD

05/15/1997

TABLE

RECORD

PRODUCT

PRODID

CAL117POL 

PRODNAME

Cal 117 Polyurethane 

MAINUSE
89

COMPOS

YES

PRODENSI

0

PROLENGTH

0

PROHEIGHT

0

PROTHICK

0

PROCOND

0

PROSHEAT

0

PROEMISS

0

PRIVATE

NO

LAST_UPD

05/15/1997

VECTOR DATA

VARIABLE

DERIVED

CO2YIELD

Carbon dioxide yield;\ * Carbon Dioxide Yield

kg/kg

0

0

0

0

0

1.09876

1.03172

0.800747

0.425673

0.242668

0.146201

0.141136

0.244935

0.162767

0.159089

0.134046

0.276287

0.259836

0.23614

0.190668

0.203335

0.143167

0.0350495

0.148871
90

0.158523

0.118113

0.0721001

0.222264

0.208616

0.199369

0.120573

0.0978741

0.0837487

0.0479196 0

0.155169

0.130958

0.18944

1.18224

1.54814

1.89884

1.98006

2.14921

2.11394

2.15889

2.08052

1.98085

1.95331

1.85909

1.92501

1.80108

1.86625

1.68095

1.69572

1.64487

1.61026

1.65617

1.58949

1.60955

1.52798

1.47203

1.35536

1.31746

1.37074

1.52247

1.28886

1.35737

1.37042

1.21844 000000
91

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

VARIABLE

DERIVED

COYIELD

Carbon monoxide yield;Carbon Monoxide Yield

kg/kg

0

0

0

0

0

0.0264949

0.0694565

0.0685621

0.0990001

0.107421

0.124962

0.150593

0.123521

0.127617

0.0786565

0.0777479

0.0422005

0.0432928

0.0316833

0.0325268

0.0266779

0.0268174

0.0268777

0.0269292

0.0263171

0.0263761

0.0265512

0.026137

0.026968

0.0276506

0.0280212

0.0293574

0.0294565

0.0296082

0.0306819

0.0304662

0.0402105

0.0422607
92

0.0392593

0.0366941

0.0388665

0.0321263

0.046035

0.0396399

0.0543811

0.0475729

0.0623765

0.056805

0.0776758

0.0742966

0.0864888

0.0874078

0.0966725

0.0995567

0.102817

0.107484

0.10292

0.11035

0.106335

0.114203

0.10512

0.117721

0.109616

0.127538

0.116251

0.134619

0.117329

0.138272

0.12726

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

VARIABLE

DERIVED

HC

Effective heat of combustion;\T / Effective Heat of Combustion

J/kg

0
93

0000

1.07752E+07

1.07752E+07

1.07752E+07

1.07752E+07

9.47452E+06

7.80924E+06

5.99671E+06

4.30594E+06

3.00279E+06

2.14634E+06

1.68113E+06

1.48928E+06

1.4444E+06

1.45238E+06

1.47478E+06

1.49732E+06

1.51047E+06

1.5133E+06

1.5103E+06

1.50044E+06

1.49307E+06

1.49152E+06

1.4944E+06

1.5147E+06

1.54653E+06

1.59044E+06

1.65113E+06

1.71766E+06

1.80073E+06

1.95242E+06

2.26475E+06

2.91422E+06

4.10563E+06

5.90224E+06

8.30254E+06

1.10643E+07

1.37989E+07

1.62519E+07

1.81245E+07

1.93709E+07

2.01322E+07

2.05191E+07

2.07609E+07

2.0997E+07

2.12454E+07

2.15289E+07

2.18022E+07
94

2.20154E+07

2.21972E+07

2.23519E+07

2.25169E+07

2.27215E+07

2.29477E+07

2.31963E+07

2.3435E+07

2.36642E+07

2.38869E+07

2.40845E+07

2.4267E+07

2.44308E+07

2.45507E+07

2.30993E+07

2.00765E+07

1.54587E+07

9.286E+06

4.64645E+06

1.54422E+06

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

VARIABLE

DERIVED

HRR/A

Heat release rate per unit area;Heat release rate

W/m^2

0

0

0

0

0

157585

148432

131820

114797

92118.6

46341.4

15581

8306.76

7988.35

6957.76
95

6831.02

7109.41

7206.15

6692.42

7377.22

6671.82

6960.26

6879.2

6648.52

6903.91

6859.49

7089.37

6319.08

6933.91

6597.8

6431.17

6926.92

6865.88

7503.8

6880.01

7513.55

8319.26

8610

8926.72

11568.3

49675.4

79261.1

105892

136443

168154

199228

226078

252695

264127

279654

285372

306240

296270

291105

278300

265807

253634

244290

236449

226057

208994

187694

170080

139480

117423

104690
96

94564.4

79253.9

67989

62234.9

56655.3

52706.6

48851.2

42353.1

39520.4

35793.3

32434.2

29597

24727.7

21715.1

20242

16650.1

11751.5

VARIABLE

DERIVED

MLR/A

Mass loss rate of the sample per unit area;\TB / Rate of Mass Loss

kg/m^2*s

0

0

0

0

0

0.00877919

0.00877919

0.00877919

0.00877919

0.00813354

0.00698669

0.00593314

0.00533274

0.00513927

0.00495081

0.00498453

0.00506032

0.00496671

0.00486599

0.00472503

0.00454875

0.00449663

0.00452643

0.00448985

0.00457629

0.0045986

0.00453319

0.00462527

0.00445375
97

0.00436967

0.00432632

0.00411546

0.00409253

0.00405995

0.00393728

0.00392576

0.00382225

0.00364043

0.00391332

0.00417381

0.00468016

0.00556089

0.00619306

0.00718254

0.00836336

0.00947151

0.0107448

0.0118025

0.0124877

0.0130158

0.0132412

0.0132293

0.0131731

0.01284

0.0124153

0.0118953

0.0112692

0.0106919

0.0100344

0.0094072

0.00864626

0.0077683

0.00687405

0.00592967

0.00509016

0.00440852

0.00381811

0.00329098

0.00292486

0.00249146

0.00226353

0.00203761

0.00175018

0.0016864

0.00132604

0.00114023

0.00110626

0.000780616

0.000820079

0.000820079
98

0.000820079

0.000820079

0

VARIABLE

RAW

O2STACK

Oxygen concentration in exhaust stack;Oxygen level in exhaust duct

%

20.95

20.9427

20.9445

20.8819

20.6463

20.6

20.6229

20.6559

20.6967

20.748

20.8485

20.9167

20.9324

20.933

20.9353

20.9355

20.9349

20.9348

20.9358

20.9343

20.9359

20.9352

20.9355

20.9359

20.9353

20.9355

20.9349

20.9366

20.9352

20.936

20.9364

20.9353

20.9354

20.934

20.9354

20.9339

20.9323

20.9317

20.931

20.9253

20.8442

20.7779

20.7168
99

20.6486

20.5744

20.5002

20.4316

20.3701

20.3352

20.2966

20.2729

20.2299

20.2412

20.2564

20.2864

20.3175

20.3418

20.3745

20.3927

20.4211

20.4614

20.5143

20.5592

20.6311

20.6837

20.7134

20.7363

20.7738

20.7994

20.8127

20.8239

20.8343

20.8437

20.8574

20.8635

20.8719

20.8795

20.8856

20.8967

20.9032

20.9066

20.914

20.9248

VARIABLE

DERIVED

OD

Smoke optical density / meter in exhaust stack

0

0

0.0467776

0.568177

1.37648

2.53129
100

2.29254

1.99483

0.913924

0.585767

0.334884

1.25701

0.903895

0.917539

0.837287

1.19536

1.2282

1.46615

1.86716

1.6293

1.31528

1.24577

1.69216

1.48527

1.98344

1.71571

2.18115

1.97282

1.97518

1.96294

1.89911

2.08286

1.881

1.81952

1.9277

1.53232

1.65157

1.76612

1.65024

1.58903

1.25994

0.31281

0.47525

0.798677

1.05908

1.43085

1.56533

1.67045

1.70856

1.69576

1.72683

1.60028

1.49524

1.40863

1.34344

1.19743

1.26896
101

1.20203

1.22253

1.12404

0.976459

1.05991

0.871224

0.751936

0.597436

0.469257

0.565449

0.350678

0.228144

0.21623

0.202066

0.189053

0.131445

0.10457

0.0958581

0.0676479

0.0635076

0.0520552

0.0610437

0.0494503

0.0361019

0.0256376

0.0119871

VARIABLE

DERIVED

SEA

Smoke specific extinction area in exhaust stack;Smoke specific extinction area

in exhaust stack

m^2/kg

0

0

0

0

0

836.564

964.87

933.178

822.658

700.379

686.64

787.043

899.316

1012.47

1129.12

1276.91

1451.04

1617.14

1735.6
102

1777.66

1779.73

1813.65

1888.43

2001.99

2152.96

2259.1

2357.16

2406.01

2449.17

2494.98

2513.95

2563.2

2543.92

2508.96

2488.38

2427.08

2404.22

2335

2104.74

1779.29

1363.74

954.052

723.624

634.858

648.891

715.92

744.476

745.082

729.057

702.343

675.796

647.62

619.249

598.473

585.994

585.395

598.615

612.745

633.726

652.002

666.188

681.573

678.717

680.858

673.6

651.021

601.777

494.546

356.914

205.64
103

90.9487

26.9897

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

VARIABLE

DERIVED

SMOKERATE

\ B / Rate of Smoke Production

0

0

0

0

0

2091.41

6595

11340.1

15729.7

19537.3

23004.8

26689.1

30904.9

35684.4

41038.4

47053.5

53873.3

61543.8

69925.6

78708.7

87602.2

96585.7

105841

115567

125954

136984

148525

160433

172571

184931

197454

210146

222914
104

235546

248040

260328

272407

284255

295354

305064

312922

318716

322910

326307

329516

332928

336579

340303

343988

347567

351012

354321

357488

360532

363493

366422

369382

372410

375526

378741

382036

385406

388806

392205

395592

398903

402035

404776

406904

408311

409052

409347

409415

409415

409415

409415

409415

409415

409415

409415

409415

409415

409415

VARIABLE
105

DERIVED

SMOKEVOL

Smoke volume flowing in exhaust stack

0

0

0.00112377

0.0136457

0.0321494

0.0586004

0.0537941

0.0464856

0.0215828

0.013906

0.00794425

0.030333

0.0218628

0.0220302

0.0201893

0.0286851

0.0293618

0.035294

0.0446852

0.0388728

0.0316027

0.0297466

0.0406425

0.0355625

0.0471651

0.0412167

0.0519961

0.047241

0.046985

0.0469736

0.0456033

0.0498476

0.0449205

0.0433258

0.0461306

0.0363081

0.0394214

0.0422013

0.0393766

0.0377979

0.0300912

0.00736002

0.0111053

0.0186931

0.0246954

0.0332533

0.0361867
106

0.0388591

0.0394426

0.0393718

0.0397284

0.037395

0.0345324

0.0327497

0.0312817

0.0279237

0.0294351

0.0283642

0.0287424

0.0266079

0.0230492

0.025101

0.0207679

0.0179386

0.0142675

0.0112065

0.0134598

0.00845414

0.00548539

0.00520334

0.00480452

0.00454327

0.00318615

0.00251452

0.00229539

0.00162473

0.00152626

0.00124963

0.00147458

0.00119448

0.000873938

0.000615327

0.00028917

VARIABLE

TIME

TIME

Time from start of ignition source;Time from sample insertion

s

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45
107

50

55

60

65

70

75

80

85

90

95

100

105

110

115

120

125

130

135

140

145

150

155

160

165

170

175

180

185

190

195

200

205

210

215

220

225

230

235

240

245

250

255

260

265

270

275

280

285

290

295

300
108

305

310

315

320

325

330

335

340

345

350

355

360

365

370

375

380

385

390

395

400

405

410

VARIABLE

DERIVED

VOLSTACK

Volumetric flow in exhaust stack;Volume flow in exhaust duct

0.0239523

0.0238743

0.0240162

0.0240091

0.023349

0.0231433

0.0234577

0.0232961

0.0236084

0.0237326

0.0237153

0.0241238

0.0241799

0.0240028

0.0241054

0.0239896

0.0238989

0.0240651

0.0239248

0.0238512

0.02402

0.0238708

0.0240107

0.0239361
109

0.0237722

0.0240158

0.0238316

0.0239386

0.0237804

0.0239228

0.0240056

0.023925

0.0238738

0.0238043

0.023923

0.0236875

0.0238617

0.0238876

0.0238538

0.0237794

0.0238757

0.0235215

0.0233601

0.023398

0.0233108

0.0232333

0.0231107

0.0232558

0.0230785

0.0232111

0.0229999

0.023361

0.0230882

0.0232427

0.0232781

0.0233131

0.0231897

0.0235902

0.0235038

0.023665

0.0235982

0.0236754

0.0238308

0.0238497

0.0238743

0.0238744

0.0237969

0.0241009

0.0240365

0.0240567

0.0237699

0.0240246

0.0242322

0.0240391

0.0239385
110

0.0240102

0.0240256

0.0239986

0.0241489

0.0241479

0.0242003

0.0239938

0.0241162