Citation

Hirschler MM. Fire Safety J. 1991; 17(3): 239-258.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1991, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The traditional method for measuring smoke obscuration is the NBS smoke chamber. The results obtained from it are not good indicators of fire hazard, however. The best measurements of fire hazard are those associated with heat release. This work presents results on 17 materials tested in two rate of heat release calorimeters, viz. the Ohio State University and the NBS cone. Results from both instruments correlate very well with each, linearly, over a very large range of fire performance of materials. Moreover, there are strong indications that these results correlate with those of full scale fires. The hazard associated with smoke is best measured by means of parameters which take into account the fact that some materials do not burn up completely in a real fire. Combined parameters (of smoke obscuration and heat release) are defined in this paper, which are excellent indicators of smoke hazard: smoke parameter (in the cone calorimeter) and smoke factor (in both calorimeters). [These parameters have been measured for all 17 materials and correlate well with each other.] These parameters do not correlate with the results of the NBS smoke chamber, however.