The measurement of the burning rate of an individual dowel in a uniform fuel matrix

The weight of an individual dowel was measured as a fire swept through a matrix fuel bed. The burning rate curve was determined for a number of centre to centre distances, fuel bed widths, dowel lengths and dowel diameters in both still air and a uniform wind. The burning rate curve was found to be approximtely Gaussian for the 2.5 mm diameter dowels. As the dowel diameter increased the burning rate curve deviated from a Gaussian distribution with the largest deviation occurring for the largest diameter dowels studied, 12.7mm. The burning time, defined as the time between 80% and 20% initial weight was found to be independent of wind velocity and proportional to the diameter of the fuel to the 3/2 power.