Fire Characteristics

Flame Resistance. Traditionally, small-scale laboratory flammabiUty tests have been used to initially characterize foams (38). However, these do not reflect the performance of such materials in bulk form. Fire characteristics of thermal insulations for building appHcations are generally reported in the form of quaHtative or semiquantitative results from ASTM E84 or similar tunnel tests (39). Similar larger scale tests are used for aircraft and marine appHcations. 

Table 12.14 Fire characteristics determining protection system design...

Once a fire has started, control of the fire can be accomplished in several ways through water systems (by reducing the temperature), carbon dioxide or foam systems (by limiting oxygen), or through removal of the substrate (by shutting off valves or other controls). Chapter 4 provides detailed discussion on the theories of fire and specific information on hydrocarbons, as well as chemical specific fire characteristics. 

The installation of fixed fire protection depends on analysis of potential fire characteristics (see Chapter 6). A summary of the factors is given in Table 12.14. 

Running Fire - Is a fire from a burning liquid fuel that flows by gravity to lower elevations. The fire characteristics are similar to pool fires except it is moving or draining to a lower level. 

Once the fire characteristics are calculated, an assessment of the impact of the fire needs to be completed. Fires produce four major outputs gases, flame, heat, and smoke. The materials involved in the fire will determine the combination of these four outputs. For example, crude oil will produce a very dark thick smoke cloud, and ethylene does not produce much smoke, but does have a very large flame. 

Firing characteristics of Brit electrical detonators are given in Ref 51, p 121... 

The firing characteristics of commercial electric detonators are shown in Ref 36, p 64, Fig 11, given here as Fig 13. The curve APB of Fig shows the relation between current t and "minimum lag time" for the most rapid detonator in the series, while the curve CPD shows the corresponding relation between current and "maximum excitation time " for the least sensitive detonator of the series. From the curve it can be seen that with current ij, the most rapid detonator will break the circuit in T4 milliseconds, whereas the least sensitive detonator requires at least T5 millisecs of current flow to enable it to fire. At a higher current 12, however, the excitation time T, is less than time T2 which is allowed by the most rapid detonator, and hence the least... 

Classifying Petroleum Liquids with Respect to Fire Characteristics... 

It is very hard to determine the burning behavior of upholstered furniture on the basis of the fire characteristics of the foam, fabric, and framing materials and to account for the geometry and configuration of the furniture and how it is ignited. It is much easier to test the entire furniture item. The calorimeter described in the section was developed for this purpose. 

NFPA 266 Standard Method of Test for Fire Characteristics of Upholstered Furniture Exposed to Flaming Ignition Source (withdrawn)... 

Dempsey, N., Avila, K., Mihyun, K., Lautenberger, C., and Dore, C. Fire characteristics of polyester FRP composites with different glass contents, Proceedings of Composites and Polycon 2007 Conference, Tampa, FL, October, 2007. 

The transit time is independent of the electrical firing characteristics, strictly a function of initiator design and construction it depends upon the burning or detonation rates of the explosive materials as loaded, and on the distance, or length of the loaded explosive column. 

Suppose we have a detonator that has lead azide pressed directly on the bridge. The detonator has the following firing characteristics ... 

One way around this problem is to find a nondestructive test that would still give good indication of firing characteristics. This has been done, using the Rosenthal model (seen earlier) as the basis, with transient-pulse testing or electrothermal response. This procedure can be used on 100% of the units fabricated and find individual bad actors to be weeded out as well as to find systematic or lot to lot shifts at the same time. This procedure is based upon the same heat transfer and energy balance equation we saw earlier... 

BS 6203 1982 Fire Characteristics and Fire Performance of Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) Used in Building yipplications, 25 pp... 

While this section discusses the ULNB used for fired heaters only, boiler burners are discussed in the subsequent section. These two types of fired units are discussed separately because of their different firing characteristics. 

Mole Ignition and simple flame spread are also reaction-to-fire characteristics but are considered separately for convenience. Reaction-to-fire tests tend to be applied to products... 

In addition to the safety evaluation analyses of the IHTS for large leaks, R D work on sodium water reaction carried out to date includes small water leak experiments for the determination of a design base leak rate, development of reliable and real time detection system of water leaks using the acoustic signal as well as hydrogen detection, among others. Sodium fire characteristics and... 

Ward, D. E., R. A. Susott, J. B. Kauffman, R. E. Babbit, D. L. Cummings,. B. Dias, B. N. Holben, Y. J. Kaufman, R. A. Rasmussen and A. W. Setzer (1992) Smoke and fire characteristics for cerrado and deforestation burns in Brazil-Base-B Experiment. Journal of Geophysical Research 97, 14601-14619... 

The fire characteristics of a material are characterised by ease of ignition, contribution to flame spread and heat contribution as well as other factors generally associated... 

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