Characteristics of flame spread over the surface of charring solid combustibles at high altitude

• Published in: Chinese science bulletin Vol. 54; no. 11; pp. 1957 - 1962
• Main Authors: Li, Jie, Ji, Jie, Zhang, Ying, Sun, JinHua
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Heidelberg SP Science in China Press 01.06.2009
• Subjects: Articles/Engineering Thermophysics; Chemistry/Food Science; Earth Sciences; Engineering; Humanities and Social Sciences; Life Sciences; multidisciplinary; Physics; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); 传播特性; 固体燃料; 火焰传播速度; 火焰高度; 高海拔地区; flame temperature; flame height; whitewood; flame spread rate
• ISSN: 1001-6538; 2095-9273; 1861-9541; 2095-9281
• DOI: 10.1007/s11434-009-0272-6

To explore the characteristics of flame spread over the surface of charring solid combustibles at high altitude, the whitewood with uniform texture was chosen to conduct a series of experiments in Lhasa and Hefei, with altitude of 3658 m and 50 m respectively. Several parameters, including the flame height, flame spread rate, flame temperature, surface temperature, were measured on samples with different width and inclinations. A quantitative analysis of flame spread characteristics over sample surface at high altitude was performed. Results showed that, in the environment of lower pressure and oxygen concentration at high altitude, the flame height and flame spread rate over sample surface decreased, but the flame temperature increased slightly. However, with increasing of sample width, the relative difference between the flame spread rates at different altitudes decreased.