Evaluating the risk of smoldering combustion

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26560171
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Social systems engineering/Safety system
• Research Institution: Yamagata University
• Principal Investigator: KUWANA Kazunori 山形大学, 大学院理工学研究科, 准教授 (30447429)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): KUSHIDA Genichiro 愛知工業大学, 工学部, 教授 (80153287)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: 火災 / スモルダリング燃焼 / 燃え拡がり / リスク評価

Outline of Final Research Achievements

A test method was proposed in which characteristics of smoldering combustion of a combustible solid can be evaluated without any influence of flaming combustion.
The fraction burned and the flame spread rate are important information in evaluating the risk of a fire. In this study, image analysis was conducted to quantify the fraction burned, the size of burned structure, and so on, enabling direct and quantitative comparison of experimental data with numerical and theoretical predictions.
A theoretical analysis was conducted considering experimental parameters to identify the governing parameter of the phenomenon, the effective Lewis number. It was demonstrated that the effective Lewis number can unify the influences of experimental parameters such as the oxidizer velocity and the oxygen concentration.

Free Research Field

火災安全科学