Fire Safety Science Digital Archive

The perfomance of flame arresters consisting of metal or polyvinylchloride sheeting or blocks, perforated with circular holes, has been investigated. The arresters were mounted in horizontal tubing systems of various lengths filled with flammable propane/air mixtures which could be ignited either at the open end or at the closed end of the tube. The velocity of the flame that was just quenched by an arrester was directly proportional to the thickness of the arrester and varied inversely with the size of the holes in the arrester. No significant differences were found in the flame quenching abilities of brass and polyvinylchloride sheeting, under the conditions of test. The behaviour of arresters consisting of brass sheeting perforated by a single circular hole was erratic, when compared with that of similar arresters perforated by multiple holes. A comparison is made between the behaviour of perforated metal and wire gauze arresters. Some theoretical consideration is given to the behaviour of the perforated arresters.