Nonconventional fully developed polyethylene and wood compartment fires

✍ Scribed by Benny Bøhm; Sven Hadvig

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1982
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 954 KB
• Volume: 44
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0010-2180
• DOI: 10.1016/0010-2180(82)90074-8

✦ Synopsis

Seventeen experimental fires with polyethylene and wood fuel were carried out in a full-scale compartment. The combustion air was supplied by a fan and the special feature of the compartment was the use of a slit which enabled the vertical position of the neutral plane to be well defined for outside observation. Large vertical and horizontal gradients in the gas temperature were found. In the polyethylene fires the highest mean compartment temperature measured was 1200°C.

In the fully developed period all fires were ventilation controlled. Simulations of the experiments were carried out by means of a computer program. A general design model for polyethylene fires is proposed. This model is compared with a similar model for wood fu'es, and the models are applied to structural design. For wood structures and unprotected or lightly protected steel members the polyethylene fire is the more severe.