Related Quantities. Part A. Heat of Combustion and Potential Heat.
Related Quantities. Part A. Heat of Combustion and
Potential Heat.
(798 K)
Babrauskas, V.
Chapter 8;
Heat Release in Fires, Elsevier Applied Science, NY,
Babrauskas, V.; Grayson, S. J., Editor(s)(s), 207-223
pp, 1992.
Keywords:
heat release rate; fire protection engineering; heat of
combustion; potential heat
Abstract:
In a combustion reaction, the essential quantity is the
heat of reaction. Since in typical combustion reactions
we are dealing with constant-pressure, rather than
constant-volume systems, it is most convenient to work
with enthalpies, rather than energies. The enthalpy, H
(kJ), is defined as: H = U + PV where U is the energy
(kJ), P is the pressure (kPa), and V is the volume (m3).
In thermodynamics and engineering calculations, specific
enthalpy, h, is often used (and also specific energy,
u). Molar units (kJ/mol) for these terms are typical in
thermodynamics calculations, while in engineering
computations it is often convenient to adopt mass
(kJ/kg) units.
Building and Fire Research Laboratory
National Institute of Standards and Technology
Gaithersburg, MD 20899