Fire Safety Science Digital Archive

This paper discusses testing and modeling efforts to experimentally determine, and numerically model the behavior of aluminum at incipient melt conditions. More particularly, the role of the oxide layer which develops on the surface of aluminum which is heating in an oxidizing environment has been found to influence deformation. Several configurations where tested composed of aluminum rods at different orientations with regard to standard gravity, and video images were taken to record movement. The numerical model of some of the events was matched to experimental configuration to determine the validity of the model for describing movement.