Literature Review to Support the Development of a Database of Contemporary Material Properties for Fire Investigation Analysis

Abstract

The NIJ Technology Working Group’s Operational Requirements (TWG ORs) for Fire and Arson Investigation have included several scientific research needs that require knowledge of the thermophysical properties of materials that are common in the built environment, and therefore likely to be involved in a fire scene. The specific areas of research include: adequate materials property data inputs for accurate computer models, understanding the effect of materials properties on the development and interpretation of fire patterns, and evaluation of incident heat flux profiles to walls and neighboring items in support of fire model validation. These topics certainly address, in a concise way, many of the gaps that limit the analysis capability of fire investigators and engineers. Each of the three aforementioned research topics rely, in part, on accurate knowledge of the physical conditions of a material prior to the fire, how the material will respond to the exposure of heat, and how it will perform once it has ignited. This general information is required to visually assess a fire scene. The same information is needed by investigators to estimate the evolution and consequences of a fire incident using a computer model. Data sources that are currently most commonly used to determine the required properties and model inputs are outdated and incomplete. This report includes the literature review used to provide a technical approach to developing a materials database for use in fire investigations and computational fire models. A summary of the input from the project technical panel is presented which guided the initial selection of materials to be included in the database as well as the selection of test measurements.