Citation

Jayaweera TM, Yu H. Fire Safety J. 2006; 41(5): 335-342.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2006, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Experiments were performed to determine the water absorption propensity of four different corrugated boards oriented horizontally and exposed to vertical water sprays from above. The corrugated samples used in the experiments were taken from cartons and partition boards from the FM Global Standard Plastic Commodity and from the inner and outer cartons of the FM Global Class II Commodity. These two commodities have been widely used in the fire protection community as two representative warehouse fire hazards for evaluation of sprinkler fire protection performance in large-scale fire tests. A one-dimensional theoretical model was developed for data correlation, which indicates that the cumulative mass of water absorbed in the board varies with the square-root of time lapse from the start of water spray application. The experimental data are correlated well with the theory before the boards become saturated. In general, water absorption rate for a corrugated board increases linearly with water flux, and is slightly affected by the surface characteristics and morphology of the board. The results produced in this work will aid in the modeling and designing of sprinkler protection systems for goods packaged in cartons made of corrugated boards.