- Author
- Spearpoint, M. J.
- Title
- Predicting the Ignition and Burning Rate of Wood in the Cone Calorimeter Using an Integral Model.
- Coporate
- Maryland Univ., College Park
- Sponsor
- National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD
- Report
- NIST GCR 99-775, May 1999, 425 p.
- Distribution
- 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; Fax: 703-605-6900. Website: http://www.ntis.gov
- Contract
- NIST-GRANT-60NANB2D1266
- Keywords
- cone calorimeters | wood | ignition | burning rate | radiant flux | thermophysical properties | material properties | experiments | char depth
- Abstract
- This study compares ignition and burning rate measurements of wood in the Cone Calorimeter with a one-dimensional integral model that describes the transient pyrolysis of a semi-infinite charring solid subject to a constant radiant heat flux. Four species of wood were exposed to a range of incident heat fluxes both with their gram parallel and perpendicular to the incident heat flux. The time to ignition and burning rate measurements obtained from the Cone Calorimeter were used to derive characteristic properties of the materials. These properties were used as input to the integral model to compare its predictions with the experimental data. Thermocouples were embedded as various depths in the samples. Temperature measurements were used to determine the progress of the thermal penetration wave and char depth through the material. The measurements were compared to predictions from the integral model.