Experimental study on the fire behavior of the corrugated cartons under low-pressure environment with oxygen-enriched

Abstract

Oxygen-enriched indoor in the high plateau can validly address the plateau reaction, but increases the probability of fire and the hazards after it occurs. The intention of this article was to estimate the influence of oxygen enrichment in low-pressure environment on the combustion behavior of characteristic combustibles based on indoor corrugated cartons, which is believed to be profitable for high plateau indoor fire safety. The ignition time, mass loss, flue gas properties, heat flux and axial temperature were investigated in comparative trials performed in a hypobaric chamber to emulation the particular environment. A new correlations to predict the burning rate of solid materials under varying pressures and oxygen concentrations was proposed and fitted by experimental data showing a good agreement. The results show that inhibition of solid combustion by low pressure can be significantly weaken by oxygen enrichment. As oxygen concentration increases, flame shape had a thin high type into a wide low type, the color had a blue-yellow gradually turned into a bright color. Moreover, at high oxygen concentration, pressure is weakly correlated with ignition time, mass loss and heat production. The fire performance index and thermal release index indicators show a significant raise in fire hazard of oxygen-enriched atmosphere.