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Heat
Release Rate Based on Vehicle Fire Tests
Download Final Report
Contractor: Southwest Research Institute
Purpose:
The objective of the research is to determine the
heat release rate from motor vehicles that have been fire tested, and
documented following papers and reports:
Series
1
Mangs, J. and O. Keski-Rahkonen,
“Characterization of the Fire Behavior of a Burning Passenger Car. Part
I: Car Fire Experiments.” Fire
Safety Journal, Vol. 23, 1994, pp. 17-35.
Series
2
Steinert, C., “Smoke and Heat Production in
Tunnel Fires.” in International
Conference on Fires in Tunnels, Swedish National Testing and Research
Institute, Borås, Sweden, 1994, pp.123-137.
Series
3
Shipp, M. and M. Spearpoint, “Measurements
of the Severity of Fires Involving Private Motor Vehicles.” Fire and Materials, Vol. 19, 1995, pp. 143-151.
Series
4
Joyeux, D., “Natural Fires in Closed Car
Parks - Car Fire Tests.” CTICM Report No. INC-96/294d-DJ/NB, CTICM,
Metz
,
France
, 1997.
Series
5
Van Oerle, N., A. Lemaire, and P. van de Leur,
“Effectiveness of Forced Ventilation in Closed Car Parks (in Dutch).”
TNO Report No. 1999-CVB-RR1442, TNO,
Delft
, the
Netherlands
, 1999.
Series
6
Steinert, C., “Experimental Investigation of
Burning and Fire Jumping Behavior of Automobiles (in German).” VFDB,
Vol. 49, pp. 163-172, 2000.
Series
7
Stroup, D., L. DeLauter, J. Lee, and G.
Roadermel, “Passenger Minivan Fire Tests,” FR 4011, National Institute
of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD, 2001.
Series
8
Santrock, J., “Evaluation of Motor Vehicle
Fire Initiation and Propagation, Part 3: Propagation in an Engine
Compartment Fire in a 1996 Passenger Van.”NHTSA-998-3588-119, General
Motors Corporation,
Warren
,
MI
, 2001.
Santrock, J.,
“Evaluation of Motor Vehicle Fire Initiation and Propagation, Part 4:
Propagation of an Underbody Gasoline Pool Fire in a 1996 Passenger Van.”
NHTSA-1998-3588-143,
General Motors Corporation,
Warren
,
MI
2002.
Santrock, J.,
“Evaluation of Motor Vehicle Fire Initiation and Propagation, Part 6:
Propagation of an Underbody Gasoline Pool Fire in a
1997 Rear Wheel Drive
Passenger Car.” NHTSA-1998-3588-158, General Motors Corporation,
Warren
,
MI
, 2002.
Santrock, J.,
“Evaluation of Motor Vehicle Fire Initiation and Propagation, Part 7:
Propagation of an Engine Compartment Fire in a
1997 Rear Wheel Drive
Passenger Car.”
NHTSA-1998-3588-178,
General Motors Corporation,
Warren
,
MI
, 2002.
Santrock, J.,
“Evaluation of Motor Vehicle Fire Initiation and Propagation, Part 9:
Propagation of a Rear-Underbody Gasoline Pool Fire in a 1998 Sport Utility
Vehicle.”
NHTSA-1998-3588-188,
General Motors Corporation,
Warren
,
MI
, 2002.
Santrock, J.,
“Evaluation of Motor Vehicle Fire Initiation and Propagation, Part 10:
Propagation of a Mid-Underbody Gasoline Pool Fire in a 1998 Sport Utility
Vehicle.”
NHTSA-98-3588-189,
General Motors Corporation,
Warren
,
MI
, 2002.
Santrock, J.,
“Demonstration of Enhanced Fire Safety Technology-Fire Retardant
Materials-Part 1: Full Scale Vehicle Fire Tests of a Control Vehicle and a
Test Vehicle Containing an HVAC Module Made from Polymers Containing Flame
Retardant Chemicals.” NHTSA-1998-3588-190, General Motors Corporation,
Warren
,
MI
, 2002.
Santrock,
I.
, “Evaluation of Motor Vehicle Fire Initiation and Propagation, Part 12:
Propagation of an Underbody Gasoline Pool Fire in a
1998 Front-wheel Drive
Passenger Vehicle.” NHTSA-98-3588-201, General Motors Corporation,
Warren, Ml, 2003.
Santrock, J., “Evaluation of Motor
Vehicle Fire Initiation and Propagation, Part 13: Propagation of an
Engine Compartment Fire in a
1998 Front-Wheel Drive
Passenger Vehicle.” NHTSA-98-3588-203, General Motors Corporation,
Warren
,
MI
, 2003.
Santrock, J. and D.
LaDue, “Demonstration of Enhanced Fire Safety Technology -Part 3:
Full Scale Vehicle Fire Tests of a Control Vehicle and a Test
Vehicle Containing an Intumescent Paint on its Underbody.”
NHTSA-98-3588-204, General Motors Corporation,
Warren
,
MI
, 2003.
Series
9
Joyeux, D., J. Kruppa, L. Cajot, J. Schleich,
P. Van de Leur, and L. Twilt, “Demonstration of Real Fire Tests in Car
Parks and High Buildings,” Final Report. Contract No. 7215 PP 025, CTICM,
Metz
,
France
, 2002.
Series
10
Shintani, Y., N. Kakae, K. Harada, H. Masuda,
W. Takahashi, “Experimental Investigation of Burning Behavior of
Automobiles.” 6th Asia-Oceania Symposium on Fire Science and
Technology, pp. 618-629, 2004.
Series
11
“CTICM Fire Tests on Cars.” Personal
communication from J. Kruppa, CITCM,
Metz
,
France
, 2004.
Only four of the eleven test series provided all the information that was
needed for the analysis. The purpose of the proposed work is to re-examine
the results of the eleven test series, and to perform an analysis based on
the complete data sets.
Scope of Work
It is proposed to conduct a more detailed analysis of the reports listed
in the background section. The objective is to develop an electronic
database that contains the following information for each test:
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Test
ID
|
Unique
identifier of each test
|
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Laboratory
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Address
of the laboratory that performed the test
|
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Contact
|
Contact
information for the lead investigator of the test program
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Test
Purpose
|
Reasons
for conducting the test
|
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Test
Facility Release
|
Type
(Room, Corner, Open Hood), Dimensions, Technique for Measuring Heat
|
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Primary
Vehicle
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Make,
Model, Year, Mass, Percentage of Plastics, Type of Fuel Tank, Amount
of Fuel, Condition of the Vehicle (New, Used, Crashed), Ventilation
Conditions
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Target
Vehicles
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Number,
Location, Make, Model, Year
|
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Ignition
Source
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Description,
Intensity, Duration, Location
|
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Test
Results
|
Time
to Ignition, Time to Untenable Conditions in the Passenger
Compartment, Time to Flame Propagation into the Passenger
Compartment, Time to Full Involvement of the Passenger Compartment,
Time for Flame Spread to Adjacent Vehicles, Heat Release Rate vs.
Time, Peak Heat Release Rate, Time to Peak Heat Release Rate, Fire
Growth Rate, Total Heat Released, Mass Loss, Average Heat of
Combustion, Gas Temperatures in the Passenger Compartment,
Concentrations of Oxygen and Toxic Gases in the Passenger
Compartment, Incident Heat Flux to Locations in the Passenger
Compartment
|
The most important results for MVFRI are the time to
untenable conditions in the passenger compartment, and the heat release
rate vs. time. These results
will be useful to verify that conditions become untenable in the passenger
compartment when engine fire reach a critical heat release rate of 400 kW
and to determine the critical heat release rate for other motor vehicle
fire scenarios.
The laboratories will be contacted with a request for
electronic data files. If electronic files are not available, digital data
will be created by scanning the graphs in the reports. Once the data have
been compiled, an analysis will be performed and conclusions will be drawn
concerning motor vehicle fire safety. The laboratories will also be asked
for copies of photographic and video documentation of the tests to
facilitate the analysis to be conducted by SwRI.
Deliverables
1.
A CD or DVD (set) with copies of the original
reports and additional documentation;
2.
An electronic database with the results from
the survey;
3.
A report describing the analysis that was
performed and the conclusions that were reached;
4.
Presentation of an interim report at the June
2005 NFPA World Congress in
Las Vegas
,
NV
.
The electronic database will be made available as
part of the final report and can be made accessible through the MVFRI web
site. Inclusion on the CD or DVD (set) of original test reports and
additional documentation will be contingent on permission from the
laboratory that performed the tests.
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