Signatures of Smoldering/Pyrolyzing Fires for Multi-Element Detector Evaluation.
Signatures of Smoldering/Pyrolyzing Fires for
Multi-Element Detector Evaluation.
(489 K)
Cleary, T. G.; Grosshandler, W. L.; Nyden, M. R.;
Rinkinen, W. J.
Interscience Communications Ltd.; National Institute of
Standards and Technology; Building Research
Establishment; and Society of Fire Protection Engineers;
Swedish National Testing and Research Institute.
Interflam '96. International Interflam Conference, 7th
Proceedings. March 26-28, 1996, Cambridge, England,
Interscience Communications Ltd., London, England,
Franks, C. A.; Grayson, S., Editor(s)(s), 497-506 pp,
1996.
Keywords:
fire safety; fire suppression; fire detection; fire
signatures; smoldering; test fires
Abstract:
Levels of CO, CO2, H2O, hydrocarbons, smoke, temperature
and velocity produced in the plumes of
smoldering/pyrolyzing wood and smoldering cotton fires
are reported, following test protocols described for
evaluating automatic fire detection systems. The
repeatability of the wood fires is high, but the
smoldering cotton results can vary considerably
depending upon the exact configuration of the fuel. The
water vapor builds up most quickly in both fires, with
CO and CO2 growing more slowly in volume fraction but at
a close to constant ratio. Temperatures increase
steadily on the plume centerline, and the vertical
velocities correlate rougly with the square root of the
difference in plume and surrounding temperatures. The
data are compared to previous results, and a method for
using these measurements to evaluate multi-criteria fire
detection systems is proposed.
Building and Fire Research Laboratory
National Institute of Standards and Technology
Gaithersburg, MD 20899