Time to ignition, heat release rate and fire endurance time of wood in cone calorimeter test

The combustibility of wood specimens was tested by cone calorimeter. A total of nine wood species (four softwood and five hardwood) were used. The thicknesses of the specimens were 10, 20 and 40mm. The heated surfaces were radial, tangential, and cross-sections of wood. The irradiance levels were 20, 25, 30, 40 and 50 kWm(-2). The effects of wood species, density, specimen thickness, heated surface (radial, tangential or cross-section), and irradiance level on time to ignition, mass loss rate, heat release rate and fire endurance time were studied. Simple formulae were proposed to forecast those indices and their validity was examined. Copyright (C) 2002 John Wiley Sons, Ltd.