- Author
-
Fung, F. C.
|
Suchomel, M. R.
|
Oglesby, P. L.
- Title
- NBS Corridor Fire Tests: Energy and Radiation Models. Interim Report. July 1971-January 1973.
- Coporate
- National Bureau of Standards, Gaithersburg, MD
- Sponsor
- Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, Washington, DC
- Report
-
NBS TN 794
October 1973
127 p.
- Distribution
- Available from Government Printing Office Available from National Technical Information Service
- Keywords
-
flame spread
|
heat transfer
|
models
|
radiation
|
scaling
- Abstract
- The NBS corridor fire program is a continuing program to investigate the growth and spread of fire and smoke through a corridor when fire is initiated in an adjoining room. Due to recent fires involving floor coverings [1], and controversies over current floor covering flammability test methods, floor coverings have received special attention during the first phase of the corridor fire program. Results of the NBS program on corridor fires are presented under the unifying concepts of energy and radiation models. The major findings are: 1. One type of carpet fire hazard has been identified as the rapid flame spread over pile surface. 2. The dominant mechanism that causes this flame spread is energy transfer from ceiling radiation. This is substantiated by measurements and calculations. 3. Carpet evaluation by critical cumulative energy input into the corridor has been found to be feasible and informative in terms of heat transfer mechanisms. 4. Finally, a radiant panel test appears to be a promising approach to simulate the corridor environment for second generation flooring tests.