Aspects of the Motor Vehicle Fire Threat From Flammable Liquid Spills on a Road Surface.
Aspects of the Motor Vehicle Fire Threat From Flammable
Liquid Spills on a Road Surface.
(1775 K)
Ohlemiller, T. J.; Cleary, T. G.
NISTIR 6147; 23 p. August 1998.
Sponsor:
General Motors Corp., Warren, MI
Available from:
National Technical Information Service
(NTIS), Technology Administration, U.S. Department of
Commerce, Springfield, VA 22161.
Telephone:
1-800-553-6847 or 703-605-6000;
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Website:
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Keywords:
motor vehicle fires; flammable liquids; fire point; fuel
spills; gasoline; heat transfer; ignition
Abstract:
Spills of flammable liquids, particularly gasoline, pose
a significant fire hazard subsequent to a motor vehicle
crash. Various considerations pertaining to making
quantitative estimates of the level of hazard are
discussed here. These include preliminary data on the
fire point of gasoline/vehicle fluid mixes, estimates of
fire size resulting from various gasoline leak rates,
limited data on heat transfer from burning gasoline
spills and an approximate basis for estimating the het
flux exposure time that is required to ignite the
surface of a typical plastic component.
Building and Fire Research Laboratory
National Institute of Standards and Technology
Gaithersburg, MD 20899