Abstract
A study is made of the mechanisms by which laminar flames spread over flat surfaces of polymethylmethacrylate, in directions ranging from downward to horizontal. Measurements of spread rates, temperature fields and velocity fields are reported. Techniques employed include thermocouple probing, photography, interferometry, radiometer measurements, sampling followed by gas chromatography, and particle-track photography. A simplified theoretical model of the spread process is developed, involving forward heat conduction through the solid as the major mode of the energy transfer and thermal runaway of a gas-phase ignition reaction of methylmethacrylate vapor in a boundary layer just upstream from the point of flame attachment. The extent to which this physical model applies to other materials will depend on the thermal and chemical-kinetic properties of those materials.
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