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Conference paperGirods P, Bal N, Biteau H, et al., 2011, , Pages: 889-901, ISSN: 1817-4299
The cone calorimeter and the fire propagation apparatus (FPA) are often used to carry out flammability studies of materials. There are various differences in the set-up of these two devices that could lead to different fire behaviour for the same material. Among these, the impact of the different heat sources used is studied here. The cone calorimeter employs an electrical cone heater and the FPA uses tungsten lamps to radiate a given heat flux level to the sample. Experiments are conducted in the FPA set-up using a conical heater or tungsten lamps as the heat source with clear PMMA and wood samples. Mass loss and temperature measurements are taken during the tests, and the bubble layer depth is measured after the tests. Significant differences in pyrolysis behaviour of both samples between the cone calorimeter and the FPA are consistently observed at the same heat flux level. These different pyrolysis behaviours can be explained by the wavelength dependency of the radiative material properties (reflectance, absorptance and transmittance). This conclusion is in agreement with, and provides an experimental confirmation, to theoretical findings in previous studies. © 2011 INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR FIRE SAFETY SCIENCE.
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Conference paperLaw A, Stern-Gottfried J, Gillie M, et al., 2011, , Pages: 1563-1576, ISSN: 1817-4299
In 2008, Buchanan identified a necessary prerequisite for the advancement of structural fire engineering. He stated that "fire engineers and structural engineers need to talk to each other". In an attempt to address this need, the following paper provides a historical context of structural fire engineering and presents the results of research conducted when fire engineers and structural fire engineers do, indeed, talk to one another and work together on the same problem. The fire engineering approach is that developed by SternGottfried and Rein using travelling fires to capture realistic fire dynamics in a large compartment, and the structural fire approach by Law and Gillie on the whole frame behaviour of a concrete building. These techniques are not the only approaches, nor are they the ultimate product of Buchanan's challenge. However, they show how a rational approach to both fire engineering and structural engineering can provide design tools that would be meaningless or impossible otherwise. © 2011 INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR FIRE SAFETY SCIENCE.
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Conference paperJahn W, Rein G, Torero JL, 2011, , Pages: 1349-1358, ISSN: 1817-4299
The rate of fire growth in a real-scale fire test is estimated using an inverse modelling approach of computational fluid dynamics (FDS v5). Measurements from the fire test are assimilated into the fire model and based on this the parameters of a decoupled fire growth model are estimated. A forecast of the fire development is then made with the estimated parameters. It is shown that a simplified fire growth model can give a robust representation of the underlying physics and that the necessary parameters can be estimated at an acceptable computational cost. The forecasts are shown to accurately predict the fire development. The results are based on a simplified single parameter fire growth model of a well characterized scenario, but the methodology allows for an extension to a more complicated model that would require less previous characterization of the fire scenario. © 2011 INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR FIRE SAFETY SCIENCE.
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Conference paperColella F, Rein G, Verda V, et al., 2011, , Pages: 359-372, ISSN: 1817-4299
This paper applies a novel and fast multiscale approach to model ventilation flows and fires in tunnels. The complexity and high cost of full CFD models and the inaccuracies of simplistic zone or analytical models are avoided by efficiently combining mono-dimensional (1-D) and CFD (3-D) modeling techniques. The multiscale model couples a 3-D CFD solver with a simple 1-D model allowing for a more rational use of the computational resources. The 1-D network models tunnel regions where the flow is fully developed (far field), and detailed CFD is used where flow conditions require 3-D resolution (near field). The multiscale method has been applied to model steady-state fires and tunnel ventilation systems, including jet fans, vertical shafts and portals, and it is applied here to study the transient flow interactions in a modern tunnel of 7 m diameter section and 1.2 km in length. Different ventilation scenarios are investigated to provide the timing to reach the critical velocity conditions at the seat of the fire and to remove the upstream back layering. The much lower computational cost is of great value, especially for parametric and sensitivity studies required in the design or assessment of real ventilation and fire safety systems. This is the first time that a comprehensive analysis of the transient fire and ventilation flow scenarios in a long tunnel is conducted. © 2011 INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR FIRE SAFETY SCIENCE.
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Journal articleBal N, Rein G, 2011, , COMBUSTION AND FLAME, Vol: 158, Pages: 1109-1116, ISSN: 0010-2180
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- Citations: 71
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Journal articleLaw A, Stern-Gottfried J, Gillie M, et al., 2011, , ENGINEERING STRUCTURES, Vol: 33, Pages: 1635-1642, ISSN: 0141-0296
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- Citations: 52
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Journal articleJahn W, Rein G, Torero JL, 2011, , BUILDING AND ENVIRONMENT, Vol: 46, Pages: 1065-1073, ISSN: 0360-1323
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- Citations: 31
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Conference paperRein G, 2011, , Publisher: SPRINGER, Pages: 293-294, ISSN: 0015-2684
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Journal articlePironi P, Switzer C, Gerhard JI, et al., 2011, , ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY, Vol: 45, Pages: 2980-2986, ISSN: 0013-936X
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- Citations: 76
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Journal articleJahn W, Rein G, Torero JL, 2011, , FIRE SAFETY JOURNAL, Vol: 46, Pages: 81-88, ISSN: 0379-7112
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- Citations: 42
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Journal articleCarvel R, Steinhaus T, Rein G, et al., 2011, , Polymer Degradation and Stability, Vol: 96, Pages: 314-319, ISSN: 0141-3910
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Journal articleHadden RM, Rein G, 2011, , JOURNAL OF HAZARDOUS MATERIALS, Vol: 186, Pages: 731-737, ISSN: 0304-3894
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- Citations: 13
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Journal articleColella F, Rein G, Torero JL, et al., 2011, , FIRE TECHNOLOGY, Vol: 47, Pages: 221-253, ISSN: 0015-2684
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- Citations: 36
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Book chapterRein G, 2011, , COAL AND PEAT FIRES: A GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE, VOL 1: COAL - GEOLOGY AND COMBUSTION, Editors: Stracher, Prakash, Sokol, Publisher: ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV, Pages: 307-315
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- Citations: 16
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Journal articleRogaume T, Valencia LB, Guillaume E, et al., 2011, , COMBUSTION SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, Vol: 183, Pages: 627-644, ISSN: 0010-2202
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- Citations: 26
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Book chapterHadden R, Rein G, 2011, , COAL AND PEAT FIRES: A GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE, VOL 1: COAL - GEOLOGY AND COMBUSTION, Editors: Stracher, Prakash, Sokol, Publisher: ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV, Pages: 317-326
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- Citations: 16
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Journal articleBelcher CM, Yearsley JM, Hadden RM, et al., 2010, , Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol: 107, Pages: 22448-22453
Atmospheric oxygen (O2) is estimated to have varied greatly throughout Earth’s history and has been capable of influencing wildfire activity wherever fuel and ignition sources were present. Fires consume huge quantities of biomass in all ecosystems and play an important role in biogeochemical cycles. This means that understanding the influence of O2 on past fire activity has far-reaching consequences for the evolution of life and Earth’s biodiversity over geological timescales. We have used a strong electrical ignition source to ignite smoldering fires, and we measured their self-sustaining propagation in atmospheres of different oxygen concentrations. These data have been used to build a model that we use to estimate the baseline intrinsic flammability of Earth’s ecosystems according to variations in O2 over the past 350 million years (Ma). Our aim is to highlight times in Earth’s history when fire has been capable of influencing the Earth system. We reveal that fire activity would be greatly suppressed below 18.5% O2, entirely switched off below 16% O2, and rapidly enhanced between 19–22% O2. We show that fire activity and, therefore, its influence on the Earth system would have been high during the Carboniferous (350–300 Ma) and Cretaceous (145–65 Ma) periods; intermediate in the Permian (299–251 Ma), Late Triassic (285–201 Ma), and Jurassic (201–145 Ma) periods; and surprisingly low to lacking in the Early–Middle Triassic period between 250–240 Ma. These baseline variations in Earth’s flammability must be factored into our understanding of past vegetation, biodiversity, evolution, and biogeochemical cycles.
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Journal articleColella F, Rein G, Carvel R, et al., 2010, , TUNNELLING AND UNDERGROUND SPACE TECHNOLOGY, Vol: 25, Pages: 423-432, ISSN: 0886-7798
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- Citations: 32
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Journal articleCowlard A, Jahn W, Abecassis-Empis C, et al., 2010, , FIRE TECHNOLOGY, Vol: 46, Pages: 719-741, ISSN: 0015-2684
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- Citations: 49
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Journal articleStern-Gottfried J, Rein G, Bisby LA, et al., 2010, , FIRE SAFETY JOURNAL, Vol: 45, Pages: 249-261, ISSN: 0379-7112
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- Citations: 63
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