A HEAT RELEASE RATE MODEL OF RUBBER COMBUSTIBLES BASED ON SCALING LAWS

The purpose of this paper is to develop a Heat Release Rate (HRR) model based on scaling laws for highly combustibles materials, such as rubber or plastic, to simulate a fire in a factory, where a lot of rubber/plastic combustible is stored. Generally, a wooden crib is used to make a combustion model in the fire engineering, and scaling laws on wooden crib are widely used to estimate the fire load of furniture, building finishes and so on. However, little is known about the rubber fire properties, those having much heavier load and rapid-expanding features than wood fire properties. A series of fire experiments using geometrical similar rubber cribs were performed, and observed data; weight loss curve, flame height and radiant intensity; showed possibility of scaling laws of rubber crib. Finally, a HRR model for rubber fire is proposed.