Experimental Validation of Reference Energy Densities for the Fire Hazard Classification of Warehouse Commodities

Warehouse fires can cause severe human and property losses due to rapid fire growth and high fuel loads, necessitating systematic risk assessments based on the heat-release characteristics of stored commodities. However, the wide variation in storage environments and commodity types limits the applicability of quantitative evaluations based solely on heat release rate data. To address this challenge, a fire-risk classification system based on fire-load density is proposed, incorporating statistically representative heat of combustion and bulk-density values. In this study, the reference energy density for each classification was updated using fire-test results for 35 commodity types selected according to the KAN product classification code, reflecting items commonly stored in warehouses. A relative-error analysis of the existing reference energy density values revealed a maximum deviation of 19%.