Assessing smoke toxicity of burning combustibles by four expressions for fractional effective dose

Abstract

Summary Toxicity of smoke generated in a fire is difficult to measure accurately. That is because gas sensors for measuring rapidly varying concentrations of toxic gases are not yet developed. Simple expressions are searched for quick measurement in assessing smoke toxicity practically. Four equations on calculating fractional effective dose (FED) related to toxic effluents were reported in the literature, each based on different assumptions. FED value was proposed to be calculated based on peak carbon monoxide concentration and peak carbon dioxide concentration, and transient carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, and oxygen concentrations. The four values were compared in this article using literature data on toxic gases from different materials measured by (i) cone calorimeter; (ii) full‐scale burning tests; and (iii) tunnel full‐scale tests. Measured carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, and oxygen concentrations by standard equipment of oxygen consumption calorimeters were used to calculate the four FED values. It is found that the values of FED based on peak carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide concentrations (denoted as FED2) are similar to the average values of FED calculated from the updated equation in the literature using the oxygen consumption calorimeters. Putting the values of FED2 in fire safety design guides is then recommended.

Synthesis of a novel highly efficient flame-retardant coating for cotton fabrics with low combustion toxicity and antibacterial properties

“…FED was calculated following to Eq. (1) (ISO 13344: 1996); Chow et al 2020 of the animals that inhaled this mixture (Stec, 2017;Chow et al2020). The fire toxicity of materials can also be presented by lethal concentration (LC50).…”

Thermal Hazard and Smoke Toxicity Assessment of Building Polymers Incorporating TGA and FTIR—Integrated Cone Calorimeter Arrangement

“…FED equations given in ISO 13344 [19] are often simplified to consider only three gases, O 2 , CO, and CO 2 , measured using a CC for quick toxicity assessment [31]. The rationale behind this is that smoke toxicity can be reasonably assessed by considering only these three major gas species.…”

“…where M is the mass loss during the combustion process and V is the total air volume in the apparatus at standard pressure and temperature (V can be assumed as 0.01 m 3 for bench scale testing) [31] (results summarized in Table A1).…”

“…These studies reported the production of a large quantity of visual obscuring smoke with a high concentration of HCN and CO during the combustion process. Chow et al [31] compiled toxic gas data from various materials including building polymers burned under bench-scale and full-scale test conditions for smoke toxicity assessment. However, this study only considers CO, CO 2 , and oxygen concentration for the smoke toxicity assessment.…”

Fire hazard assessment with indoor spaces for evacuation route selection in building fire scenarios

“…These fire hazard assessment models have been widely applied in building fire protection assessments. 22,23 In applications involving fire route analysis, search and rescue route analysis for firefighters considering smoke hazard has also been performed. 24 Crowd congestion is common in building fire.…”