- Author
- Pocock, W. | Geremia, J.
- Title
- Cable Fire Studies Using the Ohio State University Release Rate Apparatus.
- Coporate
- David Taylor Naval Ship Research and Development Center, Annapolis, MD Naval Academy, Annapolis, MD
- Book or Conf
- U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Command. Wire and Cable International Symposium, 32nd. November 15-17, 1983., Cherry Hill, NJ, 354-371 p., 1983
- Keywords
- cables
- Abstract
- The work reported here, carried out under the Navy's Ship Damage Control Program, was part of an evaluation of the Ohio State University release rate apparatus (rra), to determine its suitability for establishing smoke and flammability standards for shipboard cables. As a first step, a study was made of the relationship between four basic parameters and burning and smoke-generation of test cables in the rra. A statistical method was used in designing the test program and analyzing results. Eighteen cable types, made from two sets of materials, were used. The study showed the effect of heat flux on smoke and heat release rates to be pronounced, as expected; of cable diameter, moderate; of the ratio of volume of copper to total cable volume, slight; and of cable spacing, not significant. The study supports the concept that heat and smoke release rate data taken over a range of heat fluxes provide a better basis for predicting relative performance of cables in a real fire than do test methods in which heat flux is not controlled. The statistical method used here is believed to be an excellent procedure for similar studies in the future.