SMOLDERING COMBUSTION PROPAGATION THROUGH A PERMEABLE HORIZONTAL FUEL LAYER

Although the propagation rate of smoldering through porous horizontal fuel layers has been measured for a variety of materials, there has been little work on the structure of the smolder reaction zone and the factors controlling it. These latter aspects are the focus here for the case of thick (18 cm) layers of wood-based fibers in the form of cellulosic insulation smoldering under natural convection air supply conditions. Two-dimensional profiles of temperature, oxygen mole fraction, and residual organic material have been measured both for unretarded insulation and for insulation having 25 wt% of the smolder retardant, boric acid, added on. It is inferred that the overall wave structure is dominated by oxygen diffusion from above. The heat release chemistry appears to involve both oxidative pyrolysis and char oxidation in a shifting balance depending on depth in the layer. Boric acid is unable to halt the smolder process in these thick fuel layers but it slows its spread by about a factor of 2 by a combination of endothermic and kinetic effects. © 1990.