Looks at the importance of management in fire safety and the range of issues it covers. Covers organisation, procedures, structural provisions, maintenance, staff training, external contractors and tenants. Concludes that all provisions for fire safety ultimately depend on the quality of management.
During hazard analyses of oxygen-enriched systems, the flammability of polymers is commonly assessed by reviewing standard limiting oxygen index (LOI) data available in the literature and summarized in ASTM Standard Guide for Evaluating Nonmetallic Materials for Oxygen Service (ASTM G 63). The data provided by this standard may not correlate with many real-life fire scenarios. Two of the most common issues relate to the direction of flame propagation recommended by the method and the test environment temperature. Modifications of these two parameters could render most polymers flammable, which under standard testing conditions set forth by ASTM G 63 would be considered nonflammable. Modified LOI tests were conducted on 16 polymers to determine the magnitude of these effects. The results indicate that the existing data presented in ASTM G 63 should be used with caution. Furthermore, modified oxygen index data should be included in standard guides for oxygen systems design.
Concepts of infrared fiber -optic (IFO) sensors were investigated for application as distributed fire sensors for Space Station Freedom. Testing of breadboard configurations (based on those concepts) showed that IFO fire -sensors will be able to detect fires in complex spacecraft with a network of lightweight fibers interfaced to a central detector. Fiber-multiplex configurations are preferred for large areas or modules, while small spacecraft compartments can be monitored with fiber configurations that are not location -sensitive with respect to individual fibers. Single -fiber (250 to 300 -gm diameter) responsivity measurements conducted with reflective and refractive optical configurations for the central detector system indicated background -limited-ranges (BLR) of 2 to 3 m for early sensing of hydrocarbon and hydrogen flames (area of approximately 3 cm2).Signal processing techniques were also investigated, and the results showed significant differences in the fire sensor performance depending on the method of optically chopping the radiation signals. The single fiber BLR could be extended to 8 m by optically chopping the signals at the fiber input (as opposed to 2 to 3 m when chopping at the fiber output) for the flames tested. The results of the research work showed that IFO fire -sensors are feasible for application on Space Station Freedom; however, additional development work will be required to eliminate false alarms caused by high temperature objects if the sensors are to be used in other applications.Technology associated with acoustic-optic -tunablefilter (AOTF) spectrometers offers a potential method of solving this problem.
A generalized case study of the failure of an oxygen-acetylene cutting torch is presented with discussion of the failure and investigation. The theory that an oxygen-acetylene flashback reaction caused the explosive failure of the torch mixing tube was investigated. The investigation led to the conclusion that abusive treatment of the torch was the primary cause of the failure. The mechanical strength of the cutting torch was determined and the dynamic overpressures due to oxygen-acetylene flashback reactions were measured by means of fast-response piezoelectric pressure transducers. The dynamic pressure measurements were compared and related to predictions of the NASA Gordon and McBride “Computer Program for Calculations of Complex Chemical Equilibrium Compositions, Rocket Performance, Incident and Reflected Shocks, and Chapman-Jouquet Detonations” for oxygen-acetylene combustion. Based on this investigation, a reconstruction of the accident is proposed.
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