Optimization of fire-related properties in layered structures

Abstract

In present paper, fire-related properties of materials with multilayered structure are obtained through reverse heat transfer analysis. For this purpose, one-dimensional heat transfer equation including pyrolysis is analyzed to simulate the fire phenomenon of multi-layered solid materials. The fire-related properties can be obtained by optimizing the objective function expressing the difference between the measured values and the results (surface temperature and mass loss rate under constant incident heat flux) obtained by analyzing the considered heat transfer equations. Repulsive particle swarm optimization is used as the optimization technique. The optimized properties of single-, two- and three-layered materials obtained with the assumed properties were compared to the assumed for various incident heat fluxes. Using a cone calorimeter, the surface temperature and mass loss rate were measured over time with three constant heat fluxes applied to three layers of sandwich type material. The fire-related properties of each layer of the sandwich type material were calculated using the measured results. The technique considered in this study can be applied for determining the fire characteristics of multilayered materials is suitable for engineering the necessary properties to predict fire propagation in solid material.