The measurement of heat release from oxygen consumption in sooty fires

This paper is a further contribution to the development of practical relationships based on oxygen consumption calorimetry to calculate the rate of heat release (RHR) in fires. The measurement of the RHR based on oxygen consumption was promoted in the 1980s. Previous workers introduced and assessed the significance of adequate correction factors to take into account incompleteness of combustion as reflected by carbon monoxide release. This paper focuses on materials releasing large amounts of soot in combustion. Classical oxygen consumption relationships are reviewed to derive adequate calculation procedures integrating the soot contribution. An analysis of the significance of the suggested soot correction factor is discussed through theoretical considerations as well as from results of lab-scale experiments.