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What is an FRL?
30/06/2020

 Tags
 Knowledge 
 Fire Testing

The term FRL is short for Fire Resistance Level and comes directly
from the National Construction Code. It is defined as a grading period in
minutes determined in accordance with Schedule 5 for the following
criteria. Structural Adequacy, Integrity and Insulation. In simple terms,
if there is a fire, the building code sets out how long a particular
building element will:
(a) stay up (Structural Adequacy)
(b) not let any fire or hot gasses through (Integrity) and
(c) stop heat from passing through (Insulation).
Each of these criteria is measured during a fire test and the failure
criteria are set out in the fire test standard AS1530.4.
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 For structural adequacy the failure criteria is that specimen falls down or it deflects
by a more than certain amount or by greater than a certain rate. The specific
amounts vary depending on whether the element is loaded axially or laterally

 For integrity, the criteria are, that no openings or gaps form that flame or hot gasses
can escape through, this is measured in a number of ways. The first is the use of a
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cotton pad which is placed on to the crack or opening for up to 30 seconds to see if
it will ignite. If the pad glows or flames then a failure has occured. For certain
application such as uninsulated walls, gap gauges are used. These are metal probes
which can be pushed into the gaps, if the gauge can either go in or move a certain
distance in the opening then it is deemed to have failed that criteria. The third mode
of failure is the observation of flame on the non-fire side for a period of greater than
10 seconds.

 The insulation criteria is a measurement of temperature. Thermocouples which

measure temperature are placed in certain locations on the specimen, these locations
vary depending on what is being tested. The failure criteria can be one of two ways:
1) The average temperature rise of certain thermocouples exceeds 140 oK
(2) Any individual thermocouple exceeds a temperature rise of 180 oK.
For penetration seals only the 180oK rise is used, while for barriers such as walls and
ceilings both are required.
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All these criteria are measured against the number of minutes a tests
runs before they exceed the failure criteria. The number of minutes is
then rounded down to the nearest segment of minutes for FRL’s that
are set out by the building code. This could be anything from 15 to 240
minutes. As an example, a loadbearing wall system that achieves 126
mins of structural adequacy, 126 mins of integrity and 119 mins of
insulation would achieve an FRL of 120/120/90. So even though it was
only 1 minute short of 120 minutes of insulation the rating achieved is
only classified as 90 minutes for the purposes of an FRL.

The FRL needed for a particular element is set out by the NCC. The
class and type of construction and the type of building element is used
to determine what FRL is required. As an example, a wall between
apartments in a 4-storey apartment building will require an FRL of
90/90/90 if it is loadbearing or -/60/60 if it is not.

This FRL of the element will also determine the FRL required for any
service penetrations in that element. In this example the service
penetrations would be required to achieve either -/90/90 or -/60/60 as
the structural adequacy is not required for penetration seals.