Radiative Emission Fraction of Pool Fires Burning Silicone Fluids.
Radiative Emission Fraction of Pool Fires Burning
Silicone Fluids.
(1135 K)
Buch, R. R.; Hamins, A.; Konishi, K.; Mattingly, D.;
Kashiwagi, T.
Combustion and Flame, Vol. 108, No. 1/2, 118-126,
January 1997.
Keywords:
pool fires; silicon compounds; heat release rate;
radiative heat loss; siloxanes; vaporizing liquids; fire
research
Abstract:
The steady-state mass burning flux and the radiative
flux profiles to the surroundings were measured for a
series of burning silicone fluids and organic fuels in
0.1-m, 0.3-m, 0.6-m and 1-m pool burners. Short-chain
silicone oligomers and aliphatic/aromatic hydrocarbons
exhibited a strong dependence of the mass flux and the
radiative fraction on pool size. The longer chain
length silicone fluids and alcohols exhibited both
markedly lower mass fluxes and radiative components of
heat release and these parameters were virtually
independent of pool size. Silica, a gas-phase
combustion product of the silicone fluids, was observed
to deposit into the vaporizing liquid pool, the yield
increasing with silicone chain length. This
necessitated correcting the measured apparent mass flux
for the liquid volume displaced by the silica. The
measured radiative power emitted from flames burning
silicone oligomers and hydrocarbons was substantially
larger than the power radiated by flames burning
long-chain silicone fluids or alcohols. The mass
gasification flux and the radiative fraction of the
silicones fluids and the organic fuels were well
correlated by the ratio of the heat of combustion to the
heat of gasification of the fluids.
Building and Fire Research Laboratory
National Institute of Standards and Technology
Gaithersburg, MD 20899