Citation

Thomson HE, Drysdale DD, Beyler CL. Fire Safety J. 1988; 13(2-3): 185-196.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1988, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

With a view to developing a simple engineering method for the prediction of piloted ignition, the validity of the critical surface temperature criterion for piloted ignition is examined experimentally for seven thermoplastic materials. The results indicate that the surface temperature at piloted ignition for each material studied varies by +/-15 K or less. As such, the surface temperature criterion appears to be suitable for engineering calculations.Analysis of time-surface temperature histories shows that the radiant heat source temperature has a significant effect on the material heating over the range of source temperatures utilized (700-1050 K). The variations in material heating are of sufficient magnitude to cause changes in ignition times by a factor of two or more for different heat sources present in typical fire scenarios.Our current level of understanding of piloted ignition is shown to be insufficient to support extrapolation procedures to determine the minimum incident radiant flux required for piloted ignition. An experimental approach to determination of the minimum radiant flux required for piloted ignition is demonstrated to be feasible.