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Abstract
A physical, yet analytical, model of fire growth has predicted flame spread and rate of heat release (RHR) for an ISO9705 test scenario using bench-scale data from the cone calorimeter. The test scenario simulated was the propane ignition burner at the comer with a 100/300 kW program and the specimen lined on the walls only. Four phases of fire growth were simulated. The first two phases, the wall ignition and upward flame spread, have separate physical formulations. Some empiricism, however, was required to predict the phases of lateral and downward flame spread. Two groups of materials seem to exist that have different characteristics of lateral flame spread. The first group, containing the heavy composite boards, displayed a continuously increasing RHR along with accelerating flame spread. The second group, which contains plywoods and lumbers, have a constant or decreasing RHR while in a slow flame spreading mode. The analytical model has predicted sensitivity of RHR to various systematic measurement errors. Disagreements about RHR at flashover were predicted as a result of differing gas analysis systems between laboratories. Delay of wall ignition due to differing sluggishness of the burner between laboratories was predicted. Other results with burner program and upper gas layer mixing are reported.
Keywords
building materials,
walls,
ceilings,
floors,
fire effects,
fire behavior,
spread,
burning,
ignition,
models,
rooms,
cone calorimetry
Citation
Dietenberger, Mark; Grexa, Ondrej. 1999. Analytical model of flame spread in full-scale room/corner tests (ISO9705). In: Proceedings of the Fire and Materials '99 - 6th International Conference and Axhibition. San Antonio, TX, USA. London, England: Interscience Communications Limited: 211-222.
