Department of Transportation

The rate of energy release in fire is discussed. The significance of calorimetric measurements of energy release for materials is related to thermodynamic parameters, namely heat of reduction and stoichiometric coefficients. It is shown that a common set of parameters is necessary to express ignition flame spread and mass loss due to combustion and heat transfer in fires. The relationship of ignition and flame spread to rate of energy release in fires is presented along with a presentation on upward spread.

J.G. Quintiere

A review is made of studies in which full-scale fire growth was compared with laboratory test data on materials. Both room and corridor fires are included in which primarily interior lining materials have been the combustible element. The studies include standard test methods and other laboratory devices used in the United States and other countries. An effort was made to intercom pare experimental results in a common basis. For example, maximum room temperature data are compared with ASTM E-84 flame spread classifications for several full-scale tests which involved nearly the same room geometries and same fuel arrangements.

Won Dokko, Kumar Ramonhalli

This report summarizes the results from a twelve-month study of the feasibility of applying certain basic concepts in thermochemical modeling to aircraft cabin fire safety. The concepts developed earlier on a NASA-sponsored program were applied to six specific tasks dealing with the thermochemical performance of interior carpets and seat cushions. The specific objective was to predict the burning rate as a function of the material property values, geometry and heat flux, more important, it was the aim to predict and provide rational for certain special features that have been experimentally observed by the FAA. It was also the specific objective to introduce new concepts that have been the subject of pursuit at other centers. That is, the novel concepts developed at JPL were highlighted. Three fundamental hypotheses were introduced: the condensed phase degradation of the polymeric material is the overall rate-limiting step; the extent of degradation at the vaporization step (at the surface) is not arbitrary but has to be specified by a scientific criterion such as the vapor pressure equilibrium criterion; and the diffusion/mixing of the pyrolysis is products with the oxidizer (air) is the rate limiting step in the vapor phase combustion. The results indicate that the condensed-phase reaction as the rate-limiting step is correct, that the thermochemical performance can be predicted using the ingredient properties only, and that a certain theoretical result predicted by this model is in qualitative agreement with experimental observations. Fro example, it is predicted that a typical carpet cannot burn under its own flame but needs augmentation by an external radiation source for sustained burning, and was observed experimentally.

Charles D. MacArthur

Version 3 of the Dayton Aircraft Cabin Fire Model (DACFIR).has been created as a refinement and generalization of earlier mathematical models for the computer simulation of fire growth in the cabin of a commercial transport airplane. The model uses data from laboratory tests on the cabin furnishing materials and a zone (control volume) representation of the cabin atmosphere to predict the accumulation of heat, smoke, and gases resulting from arbitrary ignition sources specified in the program input. The major improvements included in Version 3 are a revised cabin "atmosphere model which allows for multiple compartments and the prescribed entry of exterior fire gases, and an implicit numerical integration technique for the atmosphere equations. Volume I of this report contains a full description of the model's predictions to the results of three full-scale cabin fire tests. Volume II consists of appendices which include a user's guide and listing of the computer code.

Charles MacArthur

Version 3 of the Dayton Aircraft Cabin Fire Model (DACFIR) has been created as a refinement and generalization of earlier mathematical models for the computer simulation of fire growth in the cabin of a commercial transport airplane. The model uses data from laboratory tests on the cabin furnishing materials' and a zone (control volume) representation of the cabin atmosphere to predict the accumulation of heat, smoke, and gases resulting from arbitrary ignition sources specified in the program input. The major improvements included in Version 3 are a revised cabin atmosphere model which allows for multiple compartments and the prescribed entry of exterior fire gases,-and an implicit numerical integration technique for the atmosphere equations. Volume I of this report contains a full description of the model's predictions to the results of three full-scale cabin fire .tests. Volume II consists of appendices which include a user's guide and listing of the computer code.