Will the Second Item Ignite?
Will the Second Item Ignite?
(10570 K)
Babrauskas, V.
NBSIR 81-2271; 34 p. May 1981.
Fire Safety Journal, Vol. 4, No. 4, 281-292, 1981/1982.
Available from:
National Technical Information Service
Order number: PB81-214025
Keywords:
igniton; room fires; upholstered furniture; buring rate;
chairs
Abstract:
The burning of more than a single fuel item in a room
fire has not been well characterized. The first step in
describing multiple item burning is to determine if, in
fact, will occur. This question has been experimentally
explored from two aspects. (1) The radiant heat fluxes
from burning first-to-ignite objects have been measured,
along with their mass loss rates. (2) The ignitability
of exposed objects has been determined using a
bench-scale uniform flux ignitability test. It is then
suggested that whether the second item will ignite can
best be determined analytically from considering these
two sets of results.
Building and Fire Research Laboratory
National Institute of Standards and Technology
Gaithersburg, MD 20899