FireDOC Search

Author
Saito, K.
Title
Study of Fire Induced Flow Along the Vertical Corner Wall. Part 2. Final Report.
Coporate
Kentucky Univ., Lexington
Sponsor
National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD
Report
NIST GCR 93-628, April 1993, 61 p.
Distribution
Available from National Technical Information Service
Contract
NIST-GRANT-60NANB1D1142
Keywords
corner tests | walls | building fires | flame height | flame spread rate | heat flux | infrared photography | room fires
Abstract
This paper describes a new experimental technique with wide application which has been proven for corner fires. To measure the flame spread rate of pyrolysis front along vertically oriented flat and corner walls, it may be necessary to measure transient temperature profiles on the walls. Conventional thermocouple and visual observation methods, however, have limitations due to complexity of implementation and the inherent ambiguity of visual observations due to interference from flames. To overcome these limitations, automated infrared imaging was applied for simultaneously collecting temperature data in a relatively large wall surface area. Results indicate that the infrared system with a band-pass filter successfully avoids the flame interference allowing measurements of temperature distribution on the fire-heated wall, from which the spread rate in any direction can be deduced. The infrared camera without filters also can be used to measure visible flame position as photographic and video camera.