Measurement of Heat Release Rate by Carbon Dioxide Generation Method for Methane Fire

Abstract

The energy released by various burning material has a wide range of its magnitude and transient characteristics, the measurement of the heat release rate(HRR) has been considered as one of the most challenging issue among the parameters related to fire. This study compares the measured HRR calculated by the oxygen consumption (OC) method and the carbon dioxide generation (CDG) method using a laboratory-scale fire calorimeter. The feasibility of the CDG method is examined by analyzing the relative error. The relationship between the oxygen depletion factor and CO<sub>2</sub> mass flow rate, which is a key parameter in HRR calculations, showed strong linearity at 6 % for the methane burner fire. The contribution of HRR by CO was less than 7% compared with the of HRR by CO<sub>2</sub> in the CDG calculation method. The linearity of the OC and CDG methods with respect to HRR of the referenced methane burner in a quasi-steady state was less than 1%; this indicates that the CDG method can be utilized as a complementary method in heat release rate measurement.