Characterization of the combustion products in large-scale fire tests:: Comparison of three experimental configurations

The storage of large amounts of polymers and other bulk chemicals is a potential hazard in the case of fire. There is at present a lack of knowledge about the implications of such fires, In particular the role of the ventilation conditions on fire chemistry has warranted investigation. A set of indoor, large-scale combustion experiments, conducted on five different materials is described in this article. The main test series was conducted using the ISO 9705 room, where both well-ventilated and under-ventilated conditions were attained by restricting the opening of the room, The degree of ventilation was determined using a phi meter. Furthermore, in addition to measuring the traditional fire-related parameters, extensive chemical characterization of the combustion products was made. Two additional series of experiments were also performed, In one series of tests the size of the enclosure was increased and the fuel was placed in a storage configuration to simulate a real storage situation. In the other test series, three of the materials were tested as large-scale open pool fires. The results from the three configurations are compared regarding yields of combustion products as a function of the degree of ventilation. For a number of toxic combustion products a clear dependence of the production on the equivalence ratio was found. Further, placing the fuel in a storage configuration did not significantly change the outcome of the combustion. Thus, the ISO 9705 room is of a size and scale that can be taken as a model for representing real-scale fires, Additionally it has been demonstrated that an advantage of the ISO 9705 room is the ability to alter the ventilation conditions. Copyright (C) 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.