Fire Safety Science Digital Archive

A model of radiative and convective heat transfer was developed to simulate the heat transfer in fire resistance furnace. The calculated results agreed well with experimental data. By using the model, the heat flux to sample was calculated varying the absorption coefficient of gas. From the calculated results, the heat flux to sample is strongly dependent upon the absorption coefficient of gas. The apparent heat transfer coefficient between furnace and sample surface (the fraction of the overall heat flux to sample over the temperature difference between controlling thermocouple and sample surface) varied more than three times as the absorption coefficient changes from zero (simulating an electrically heated furnace) to infinite (simulating a soot-rich fire).