UPWARD FLAME SPREAD ON PRACTICAL WALL MATERIALS

Models of upward flame spread have been attempted in the past, but in the current work an emphasis has been placed on developing a practical model that will be useful across a broad range of materials. Some of the important aspects of the model we: the addition of external radiation to simulate a wall that is a part of an enclosure fire and has flaming walls radiating to it, the use of a correlation for flame heat feedback distribution to the sample surface based on data available in the literature, and the use of an experimentally measured mass loss rate for the sample material, In this paper, the development of the numerical model is presented along with predictions of flame spread for three materials: hardboard, a relatively homogeneous wood-based material; plywood, which is made of laminated wood bonded by adhesives; and a composite material made of fiberglass matrix embedded in epoxy. Predictions are compared with measured data at several levels of external radiation for each material. For the materials tested, the model correctly predicts trends and does a reasonable job predicting flame heights. The need for thermal property data for practical materials, which would be appropriate for flame spread models, is indicated by this work.