Experiments were conducted in a plateau area in Lhasa and a plain area in Hefei China to investigate the flame spread characteristics on thermal insulation materials under different environmental conditions (pressure and oxygen concentration).Molded polystyrene foam (EPS) and extruded polystyrene foam (XPS) samples were placed horizontally on a small-scale flame spread experimental bench.Changes in the average length of the pool fire,flame spread speed,average flame height,and length of preheating zone were used to determine the effect of the plateau and plain environments on flame spread characteristics.These parameters were all larger in Hefei than in Lhasa,which indicates the fire hazard in Hefei will be higher than that in Lhasa if insulation materials of the same size are used.
HUANG XinJie SUN JinHua JI Jie ZHANG Ying WANG QingSong ZHANG Yi
Experiments were conducted on the Tibetan Plateau to investigate the effects of sample width (W) on flame spread over horizontal charring solid surfaces. The results show that the rate of spread is influenced by the combined effects of convection heat transfer and flame radiation. Moreover, two different regimes depending on sample width were found in flame spread behavior. The rate of spread decreased with width in the convective regime (W≤3 cm) but increased in the radiative regime (W>3 cm). Similar results were observed in comparative experiments conducted on a plain in Hefei, with the rate of spread reaching its minimum value at W=4 cm rather than 3 cm.
