Fire calorimetry relying on the use of the fire propagation apparatus. Part II: burning characteristics of selected chemical substances under fuel rich conditions

The paper focuses on the detailed characterization of ventilation controlled fires of industrial products that are likely to govern accidental fire scenarios in fire resistant enclosures. Results regarding under-ventilated fires of substances that are not polymers are presented to illustrate the capability of the fire propagation apparatus (FPA) to qualify such types of fires. Based on results from heptane fire tests in both well- and under-ventilated fire conditions, a set of recommendations was previously provided in order to check the validity of the experimental results. The application of these recommendations is illustrated for the selected liquid substances containing hetero-atoms. It emerges that the fire propagation apparatus assesses quite easily the performance of well-controlled fires in both well- and under-ventilated conditions. Another major outcome of our work is that the potential of the FPA has the capability to address fire issues outside the conventional use of the equipment, in particular to qualify the burning behaviour of chemicals on the full spectrum of ventilation conditions.

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