Experimental study on the hazard characteristics of thermal insulation system in Chinese traditional residential roof

A small-sized experimental device of thermal insulation system in Chinese traditional residential roof was established to experiment on the combustion characteristics of thermal insulation material called expandable polystyrene (EPS) in various widths. The time when EPS material began melting (shorted as the melting time) and the total ignition time over EPS surface were analyzed to explore the characteristics of flame spread over EPS surface through monitoring the dynamic combustion process by camera. The experimental results show that the melting time doesn't delay with the increasing of specimen width, but the total ignition time increases non-linearly. And the total ignition time over EPS surface can be forecast when EPS material width range is from 10-30 cm in this study.