Standard Guide for Evaluating the Relative Effectiveness of Building Systems to Resist the Passage of Products of Combustion Based on the Aggregation of Leakage Rates

Abstract

5.1 Use of this guide can be beneficial in determining the relative effectiveness of building systems as it relates to potential protection from passage of products of combustion between building spaces under both ambient and elevated temperatures. 5.2 Determining the relative effectiveness of a building system to limit the total air leakage between building spaces is important in the evaluation and selection of potential construction components to meet desired performance requirements for a building. 5.3 To properly assess the relative effectiveness of a building system’s total air leakage rate, a guide as to how to aggregate the individual component air leakage rates into a total air leakage rate for the building system is needed. 5.4 It is the intent of this guide to provide a methodology for the conversion of individual component air leakage rates into common values that can be aggregated into a total air leakage rate for a building system, thus providing a means for establishing the relative effectiveness of various building systems to resist the passage of products of combustion.