Fire Safety Science Digital Archive

The smouldering of deal sawdust under airflow conditions has been investigated in order to compare its behaviour with that of beech sawdust described earlier. The dust was formed into small trains, placed in a wind tunnel, and measurements made of the effect of variation of airflow upon the smouldering time (i.e. the reciprocal of the linear rate of smouldering) and on the minimum depth of dust layer necessary for sustained smouldering, and the effects of particle size and train size upon the smouldering time. Although these investigations were less extensive than those on beech sawdust, it was concluded that the behaviour of the two dusts was similar. The practical aspects of these results are discussed.