Citation

Jiang F, de Ris JL, Khan MM. Fire Safety J. 2009; 44(1): 106-112.

Affiliation

FM Engineering Consulting (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Shanghai 200040, PR China; FM Global, Engineering Research, Norwood, MA 02062, USA

Copyright

(Copyright © 2009, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.firesaf.2008.04.004

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

An experimental technique is developed to quantify the absorption of thermal energy in black PMMA (Polycast) by in-depth radiation in semi-transparent media. In-depth heating occurs when non-reflected incident heat flux enters the solid without first being absorbed at the exposed surface. Transient conduction due to temperature gradients occurs within the solid in response to this in-depth absorption. An analytical model is developed for predicting time to ignition for such in-depth heating situations. Using the measured absorption coefficient,κ, the analytical prediction for time to ignition is found to be in excellent agreement with data from experiments of Saito and Delichatsios.