Full-Scale Burning Behavior of Combustible Solids—The Impact of Material Composition on Fire Growth, Flame Structure and Heat Feedback

Published

September 1, 2024

Author(s)

Isaac Leventon, Michael Heck, Kevin B. McGrattan, Matthew Bundy, Rick D. Davis

Abstract

This paper provides an overview of selected measurements from a series of 90 full-scale fire experiments quantifying the impact of material composition on full-scale burning and fire growth behavior. Samples were selected to provide a wide range of material compositions (i.e., chemistries) and burning behaviors: physical deformation (e.g., swelling, charring collapse, dripping, and/or melt flow), heavy or light soot formation, and varied ignitability and fire growth rates. In total, 18 unique combustible solids were tested including: natural and synthetic polymers, copolymers, fiberglass-reinforced composite materials, porous polymer foams, and electrical cables. Collectively, these experiments offer a comprehensive set of validation data for computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations of large scale fire growth due to flame spread over the surface of combustible solids. Here, a subset of these measurements is highlighted: flame heat flux, structure, and heat transfer mechanism.

Proceedings Title

Journal of Physics Conference Series

Conference Dates

October 9-11, 2024

Conference Location

Barcelona, ES

Pub Type

Conferences

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Keywords

fire growth, flame heat flux, flame spread, material flammability, fire model validation

Citation

Leventon, I. , Heck, M. , McGrattan, K. , Bundy, M. and Davis, R. (2024), Full-Scale Burning Behavior of Combustible Solids—The Impact of Material Composition on Fire Growth, Flame Structure and Heat Feedback, Journal of Physics Conference Series, Barcelona, ES, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=957776 (Accessed December 14, 2024)