Laboratory Studies of Smoke Properties at NIST Past, Present, and Future.
Laboratory Studies of Smoke Properties at NIST Past,
Present, and Future.
(1049 K)
Mulholland, G. W.; Bryner, N. P.
Paper F-08; CRDEC-CR-092; November 1990.
Office of the Project Manager Smoke/Obscurants.
Smoke/Obscurants Symposium 14. Volume 2. April 1990,
Laurel, MD, Deepak, A.; Klimek, W., Editor(s)(s),
671-684 pp, 1990.
Order number: AD/B-156556
Keywords:
smoke; research facilities; burning rate; liquid fuels;
solid fuels; fire research
Abstract:
Burn facilities have been developed at NIST to measure
the yield and optical properties of smoke at two fire
scales. The small scale apparatus is used for burning
samples about 10 cm in diameter (soup bowl size) and an
intermediate scale apparatus is used for objects up to
about 70 cm in diameter (bird bath size). Each of these
facilities monitor the mass loss rate of the fuel with a
concentration of smoke particulate with a filter, laser
transmittance through the smoke, and the concentration
of the major combustion gases. For the small scale
apparatus, the radiant flux to the sample can be
increased with a conical radiant heater and the
composition of the air can be varied to study vitiated
burning. Illustrative results for a variety of
materials at the two scales are presented. Planned
experiments involving vitiated burning and field scale
measurements will be described. Coupled with the
intermediate scale facility is a specially designed
aging and dilution chamber, which allows simulation of
the smoke aging that occurrs as a smoke plume rises in
the atmosphere. Results on the effect of aging on the
agglomerate size and optical properties are presented
and compared with theory. A transmission
cell--reciprocal nephelometer has been developed to
study the light scattering and absorption of smoke
agglomerates. On-going efforts to quantify the
instrument performance are discussed and recent results
on the effect of cloud-processing on optical properties
of smoke are presented.
Building and Fire Research Laboratory
National Institute of Standards and Technology
Gaithersburg, MD 20899