Fire Safety Science Digital Archive

The influence of wood species and the content of the main constituents of wood varieties, including classical hardwoods and softwoods, on heat and smoke release at the combustion has been studied. The tests cover 11 wood materials from coniferous and foliate trees of the middle Russia region and 5 wood varieties of tropical and subequatorial Viet-Nam region. The linear correlation between the lower values of heat combustion and summary content of lignin and extractives in wood samples has been established. Extremum dependence of smoke index for wood, Dmmax, on external radiant heat flux within the range from 10 to 35 kWm-2 without pilot ignitor has been found. Coniferous wood varieties show the biggest values of smoke index on the limit of smoldering combustion (853 –1066 m²kg-1). Smoke index decreases after self-ignition of wood samples at radiant heat flux above 20-25 kWm-2.