- Author
-
Gottuk, D. T.
- Title
- Generation of Carbon Monoxide in Compartment Fires. Annual Report. September 1991-September 1, 1992.
- Coporate
- Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State Univ., Blacksburg, VA
- Sponsor
- National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD
- Report
-
NIST GCR 92-619,
December 1992,
265 p.
- Distribution
- Available from National Technical Information Service
- Contract
- NIST-GRANT-60NANB1D1176
- Keywords
-
carbon monoxide
|
compartment fires
|
fire plumes
|
flexible foams
|
hexanes
|
polyurethane foams
|
polymethyl methacrylate
|
solid fuels
|
toxic gases
|
wood
- Abstract
- A 2.2³ test compartment was used to investigate the burning of four fuels (hexane, PMMA, spruce, and flexible polyurethane foam) in compartment fires. Empirical correlations between the upper-layer yield of major species and the plume equivalence ratio were shown to exist. The results reveal that the production of CO is primarily dependent on the compartment flow dynamics and upper layer temperature. A chemical kinetic analysis indicated that increased compartment temperature affects uper-layer species yields in two ways: 1) the generation of species in the plume is changed, and 2) oxidation of post-flame gases in the layer is affected. The correlations developed in the compartment fires were qualitatively similar to those developed by Beyler for simplified upper-layer environments. The species yields downstream of hexane compartment fires were investigated and compared to upper-layer yeilds. Results showed that downstream CO yields can be correlated to the plume equivalence ratio when taking into account the occurrences of external burning.