Estimating smoke hazard from Steiner Tunnel smoke data

The Steiner Tunnel test is the one of the primary test methods used in the United States to evaluate building materials for flame spread and smoke-developed properties.Traditionally, smoke generation data developed on a material during the Steiner Tunnel test are expressed as a smoke developed index. In recent years, new measuring techniques have been developed to describe the hazards from fire-generated smoke. These new techniques use smoke release rate data from the burning material to estimate the light obscuration in a fire-affected room. Thus, new instrumentation has been added to the Steiner Tunnel for measuring smoke release rate.Analysis was conducted to correlate the traditional smoke measurements with smoke release rate and total smoke released.The correlations are presented in the form of linear and exponential curve fits. The R2 correlation coefficients are presented, as well as statistical prediction intervals. The correlation results are provided as equations and as graphs of the correlations overlying the test data.