Burning Behavior of Upholstered Furniture Mockups

Furniture mockups consisting of various arrangements of full-size cushions were tested in the NBS furniture calorimeter. Measurements included heat release, combustion product concentrations, and flame spread characteristics. Major variations in burning were observed: neoprene mockups only smoldered, flame retardant treated polyurethane mockups burned more slowly than un treated mockups but eventually reached similar maximum heat release rates. Fabrics were ranked, in terms of maximum heat release rate and several other measured characteristics, from low to high: heavy cotton fabric; light cotton and heavy olefin, and light olefin. Flame spread rate measured on the mockups cor related with the time to reach a 100 kW heat release rate. Heat release rate and combustion product concentration generally increased with increasing number of cushions per mockup. Thinner cushions burned more rapidly than thicker ones.

Upholstered Furniture Room Fires—Measurements, Comparison With Furniture Calorimeter Data, and Flashover Predictions

This paper describes a series of room fire tests using upholstered furniture items for comparison with their open burning rates, previously determined in a furniture calorimeter. For the four tests conducted good agreement was seen in all periods of the room fires, including post-flashover, noting that only fuel- controlled room fires were considered. Difficulties in making accurate mass and heat flow measurements in the room's window opening were found, and it is sug gested that with present day instrumentation only exhaust stack measurements are reliable. Finally, a number of simplified rules or theories for predicting room flashover based on room physical properties and open-burning heat release values were examined and compared. Broad agreement was generally found, with recommended ones selected on the basis of well-controlled asymptotic behavior.

Upholstered Furniture Heat Release Rates: Measurements and Estimation

A new instrument, termed a furniture calorimeter, has been constructed and placed into operation for measuring furniture heat release rates based on oxygen consumption. Using the furniture calorimeter, burning rate information has been obtained on a series of 13 chairs, loveseats, and sofas, most of them specially built to permit direct comparisons of construction features. A quantitative assessment is made of the effect of fabric types, padding types (cotton batting, ordinary polyurethane foam, and California-requirements foam), and frame types. The advantages of furniture calorimeter testing over normal room fire testing are discussed. Based on these measurements, a rule is presented for estimating the heat release rate based on design factors. Finally, implications for achieving both good flame resistance and good cigarette ignition resistance are discussed.