Experimental Study on the Effect of Flow around Solid Combustibles and Thermal Thickness on Heat Release Rate Characteristics

Abstract

<jats:p>In this study, an ISO 5660-1 cone calorimeter experiment was conducted to examine the effects of changes in flow and thermal thickness around solid combustibles on heat release rate characteristics. Polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) is a solid combustible material that does not generate char during the combustion reaction. Hence, it was selected for the experiment, and the thermal penetration depth was calculated to distinguish the thermal thickness of PMMA. Furthermore, the thermal decomposition characteristics were analyzed by measuring the heat release rate measured during the combustion of PMMA. This was performed after generating the forced flow around the combustibles by setting the duct flow of the cone calorimeter to 12, 24, and 40 L/s. The results confirmed that the thermal release rate of the thermally thin combustible material was not significantly affected by the change in the surrounding flow. Hence, the thermally thick combustible material was significantly affected by the change in the flow rate.</jats:p>