Fire Safety Science Digital Archive

An application method of free burn heat release rate (HRR) data for a single seater sofa to predict the burning behavior in a compartment is proposed. A single seater sofa was burnt in an open environment to measure the HRR using a furniture calorimeter. The time-HRR curve was fitted with a model of burning of a cubic polyurethane block developed earlier. The model included the flame spread over horizontal, downward and lateral directions. The flame spread rates were increased if the block received radiative heat from external heat sources other than from the flame. The thermal radiation feedback from the flame, smoke layer, and heated wall surfaces was coupled with the burning model. Using the coupled model, the burning and spread rate of several sofas and a table in a small compartment was calculated and compared with experimental results. The model could reproduce the trend for the increase in HRR qualitatively. However, the time to spread to an adjacent object was not in good agreement. If the time to spread was given input to the model, other parameters such as compartment temperature and so on could be calculated with reasonable agreement.