Developing Scaling Parameters for Estimating Carbon Monoxide Levels in Structure Fires

Abstract

The majority of victims in building fires are found at locations distant from the burning compartment. Experiments were conducted in a reduced scale facility to quantify the effects of air entrainment and stoichiometry of gases entering the hallway on the CO yield at locations remote from a burning compartment. Scaling parameters for the air entrainment and the stoichiometry were empirically developed and used to predict the CO yield at these remote locations. The air entrainment scaling parameters were based on the Froude number where the gases enter the hallway and the geometry of the opening relative to the hallway. The stoichiometry of the gases entering the hallway was a function of the compartment fire size and equivalence ratio. When using scaling parameters for both the air entrainment and stoichio-metry of the gases entering the hallway, the CO yield was predicted to within 30%.