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Fire effluent component yields from room‐scale fire tests
Author(s) -
Gann Richard G.,
Averill Jason D.,
Johnsson Erik L.,
Nyden Marc R.,
Peacock Richard D.
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
fire and materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.482
H-Index - 58
eISSN - 1099-1018
pISSN - 0308-0501
DOI - 10.1002/fam.1024
Subject(s) - toxicant , environmental science , ignition system , scale (ratio) , explosive material , formaldehyde , arc flash , waste management , forensic engineering , engineering , chemistry , aerospace engineering , voltage , physics , organic chemistry , toxicity , quantum mechanics , electrical engineering
Abstract Estimation of the time available for escape (ASET) in the event of a fire is a principal component in fire hazard or risk assessment. Valid data on the yields of toxic smoke components from bench‐scale apparatus is essential to accurate ASET calculations. This paper presents a methodology for obtaining pre‐flashover and post‐flashover toxicant yields from room‐scale fire tests. The data are to be used for comparison with bench‐scale data for the same combustibles: a sofa, bookcases, and electric power cable. Each was burned in a room with a long adjacent corridor. The yields of CO 2 , CO, HCl, HCN, and soot were determined. Other toxicants (NO 2 , formaldehyde, and acrolein), whose concentrations were below the detection limits, were of limited importance relative to the detected toxicants. The uncertainty values were comparable to those estimated for calculations used to determine ASET and were sufficiently small to determine whether a bench‐scale apparatus is producing results that are similar to the real‐scale results here. The use of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy was useful for obtaining toxicant concentration data; however, its operation and interpretation are not routine. The losses of CO, HCN, and HCl along the corridor were dependent on the combustible. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.