Fire Safety Science Digital Archive

A simple form of meter is required to measure the heat flux conditions in and around experimental mass fires. The instrument should be robust and easy to use in the field, and also inexpensive because a large number will be needed. High accuracy is not very important. This paper describes how a block of wood may be used for this purpose by measuring the extent of thennal damage to an exposed block or by measuring its surface temperature. An inherent advantage of a standardized wood block is that it is a material whose ignition and thermal damage are of direct importance in practice because in real situations fires spread by ignition of wood. The investigation is not complete, but sufficient work has been carried out to enable the effectiveness of the methods to be assessed.