Fire Safety Science Digital Archive

This paper introduces an engineering approach for estimating the generation rate of carbon monoxide (CO) within a room containing a fire. Four CO formation mechanisms-1) quenching of a turbulent fire plume upon entering a rich upper layer, 2) mixing of oxygen directly into a rich, high-temperature upper layer with subsequent reaction, 3) pyrolysis of wood in a high-temperature, vitiated environment, and 4) approach to full-equilibrium combustion product concentrations in a rich, high-temperature upper layer--identified in recent experimental and modeling investigations are incorporated into a step-by-step algorithm. The understanding required to implement the algorithm in fire models is briefly discussed.