Carbon Monoxide Levels in Structure Fires: Effects of Wood in the Upper Layer of a Post-Flashover Compartment Fire.
Carbon Monoxide Levels in Structure Fires: Effects of
Wood in the Upper Layer of a Post-Flashover Compartment
Fire.
(1863 K)
Lattimer, B. Y.; Vandsburger, U.; Roby, R. J.
Fire Technology, Vol. 34, No. 4, 325-355, November
1998.
Sponsor:
National Institute of Standards and Technology,
Gaithersburg, MD
Keywords:
carbon monoxide; structures; wood; compartment fires;
flashover; data analysis; fuels; experiments; oxidation;
global equivalence ratio
Abstract:
This experimental study was performed to determine the
effects of wood pyrolyzing in a high-temperature,
vitiated compartment upper layer on the environment
inside the com-partment and an adjacent hallway. This
was done by comparing species concentrations and
temperature measurements from tests with and without
wood in the compartment upper layer. Experiments were
performed with a window-type opening and a door-type
opening between the compartment and the hallway. In
these tests, the wood in the compartment upper layer
caused CO concentrations inside the compartment to
increase, on average, to 10.1% dry, which is
approximately 3 times higher than levels measured
without wood in the upper layer. Down the hallway 3.6 m
from the compartment with wood in the upper layer, CO
concentrations were measured to be as high as 2.5% dry.
The use of the global equivalence ratio concept to
predict species formation in a compartment was explored
for situations where wood or other fuels pyrolyze in a
vitiated upper layer at a high temperature.
Building and Fire Research Laboratory
National Institute of Standards and Technology
Gaithersburg, MD 20899