Evaluating fire effluents during combustion of wood boards

Effluents generated during the flaming as well as non-flaming burning of materials may be regarded as the main cause of death and injuries from fires. The structure of fire gases highly depends on the physical condition and chemistry of fuel as well as burning conditions. During the combustion of organic materials, complex mixtures of fire gases may be created. This paper investigates fire effluent yields during the well-ventilated burning tests of lumber products - board samples from two common wood species: oak and fir. Experiments were performed in custom-designed laboratory installation hyphenating mass loss calorimeter (with chimney and thermopiles for heat release rate measurement) and FTIR gas analyzer for subsequent on-line analysis of evolved fire gases. Tests were conducted with two different heat fluxes: 30 and 40 kW/m2 . The focus was on continuous emission monitoring of three principal fire gas components: H2O, CO2, and CO with a particular emphasis on CO rates.