Upholstered Furniture Transition from Smoldering to Flaming

Babrauskas, Vytenis; Krasny, John F.

doi:10.1520/jfs14256j

Cited by 13 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…The results indicated that the non‐flame retarded foam transitioned to flaming with a probability of 0.69. It is worth noting that a similar transition probability was observed in full scale tests of a range of furniture items . The presence of flame retardant reduced this probability by a factor of 4, on average.…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 69%

An experimental setup for observation of smoldering‐to‐flaming transition on flexible foam/fabric assemblies

et al. 2017

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SummaryFires that involve upholstered furniture frequently begin as a smoldering combustion and, with time, transition to a flaming combustion, which sharply increases the level of hazard. Therefore, understanding how the compositions of the primary flammable components of the furniture, ie, flexible foam and upholstery fabric, affect this transition is important for fire safety considerations. In the current study, an experiment was designed to observe this transition using a sample consisting of 30 × 15 × 6 cm 3 rectangular foam block covered with 30 × 15 cm 2 piece of fabric. For a representative system of 1.8 lb/ft 3 (29 kg/m 3 ) flexible polyurethane foam and 11 oz (0.37 kg/m 2 ) cotton fabric, 0.69 transition probability was measured. This probability decreased by a factor of 4 when a small amount of phosphorusbased flame retardant, Fyrol® HF-9, was added to the foam. The transition to flaming was speculated to be associated with the formation of adjacent pyrolysis and smoldering regions within the foam. The pyrolysis region, dominated by anaerobic decomposition, provided gaseous fuel, the ignition of which resulted in the transition. The smoldering region, dominated by oxidation reactions at the solid-gas interface, generated the heat necessary to maintain the pyrolysis process and ignite the gaseous fuel.

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 69%

An experimental setup for observation of smoldering‐to‐flaming transition on flexible foam/fabric assemblies

et al. 2017

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“…In particular, whether the transition is possible or not or when it will occur cannot be predicted because of a lack of valid models. [Babrauskas and Krasny, 1997] did a literature survey of fire tests on a variety of upholstered furniture items (chairs, sofas and mattresses) where a smoldering fire was ignited and allowed to progress. Out of the 102 fire tests examined, 64% did transition to flaming.…”

Section: Transition To Flamingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Smoldering Combustion

Rein¹

2016

SFPE Handbook of Fire Protection Engineering

102

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His professional activities are centered on research in fire and combustion, and teaching of thermofuild sciences to engineers. He has studied a wide range of fire dynamics topics in the built and the natural environments, including pyrolysis, fire modeling, wildfires, structures and fire, and forecasting techniques. Over the course of the last 15 years he has also specialized in smoldering combustion, conducting both computational and experimental studies on a variety of fuels like polyurethane foam, cellulose, peat and coal.

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“…[43]. This implies that the presence of thermoplastic fibers can reduce the tendency to switch from smouldering to flaming [44].…”

Section: Ignitability Of Fabricsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A high density foam will be stronger, more expensive, and have a higher HRR [2], whereas a low density foam will be cheaper and exhibit a fast flame propagation rate [46]. Polyurethane foam is highly resistant to smouldering [44].…”

Section: Polyurethane Foammentioning

confidence: 99%

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The effects of floor area and opening area on the development of fires in residential dwellings

Osborne¹

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The author has granted a nonexclusive license allowing Library and Archives Canada to reproduce, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, communicate to the public by telecommunication or on the Internet, loan, distribute and sell theses worldwide, for commercial or noncommercial purposes, in microform, paper, electronic and/or any other formats. L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives Canada de reproduce, publier, archiver, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public par telecommunication ou par I'lnternet, preter, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans le monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, sur support microforme, papier, electronique et/ou autres formats. Bien que ces formulaires aient inclus dans la pagination, il n'y aura aucun contenu manquant.

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Upholstered Furniture Transition from Smoldering to Flaming

Cited by 13 publications

References 2 publications

An experimental setup for observation of smoldering‐to‐flaming transition on flexible foam/fabric assemblies

An experimental setup for observation of smoldering‐to‐flaming transition on flexible foam/fabric assemblies

Smoldering Combustion

The effects of floor area and opening area on the development of fires in residential dwellings

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