Thermal Properties Database

• NCJ Number: 239047
• Author(s): Arnaud Trouve'; Thomas Minnich
• Date Published: July 2012
• Length: 25 pages
• Grant Number(s): 2008-DN-BX-K167
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Publication Type: Program/Project Description
• Award: The Creation of a Thermal Properties Database

Annotation

This report describes the process of creating a thermal-properties database, along with its features.

Abstract

The goal and design of the centralized database was to streamline the process required to determine thermal properties and burning behavior of materials and/or objects. The database was developed in two components: a material property component and an object component. The material property component contains information on thermal properties, ignition temperatures, and critical heat flux at ignition for different representative materials (metals, plastics, woods, and miscellaneous). This component contains cone calorimeter test data in which fuel sources are described using a material-science-based microscopic perspective. The object property component of the database contains information on post-ignition fuel mass loss rates, heats of gasification, heats of combustion of different representative flammable objects. This component contains furniture calorimeter test data in which fuel sources are described using an engineering-based macroscopic perspective. Just over 500 entries are in the object property component. Each entry provides descriptive details about the item and links to published sources and available data. The database is a stand-alone tool intended for use in hand calculations and analysis by fire investigators, forensic scientists, and fire safety engineers, as well as researchers. It also provides valuable input data for computer-based fire modeling. The Thermal Properties Database will be available on the NCFS Web site for all fire investigators. 31 references and information on the dissemination of research findings