Citation

Atkinson GT. Fire Safety J. 1994; 22(4): 409-415.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1994, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This communication reports measurements of the rate and mechanism of fire development in a pallet load of 432 1-litre bottles of xylene, in lots of 12 to a box. The most important result is the specification of the rate of time variation in solvent drainage from the pallet, this can be used--with due account for bunding and drainage arrangements--to determine the rate of heat release and the lateral spread of the burning pool that develops below a burning pallet. It is hoped that these results will aid the design of sprinkler systems for this type of commodity and the assessment of risks in the event of sprinkler failure. These results complement the work of Goodman et al., (J. Fire Sciences, 7 (1989)) who have reported on a series of small-scale experiments to investigate the effects of manipulating packaging variables on the fire performance of plastic bottles containing flammable liquids.