Determination of fire parameters in a passenger car fire test using thermovision

The Main School of Fire Service, Faculty of Fire Safety Engineering, 52/54 Slowackiego St., 01-629 Warsaw, Poland

^* Corresponding author: jrybinski@sgsp.edu.pl

Abstract

The article presents results of research on the dynamics of passenger car fire development that was made at SGSP. To collect data, a fire test was conducted on a passenger car from segment A. The experiment was made in an open terrain in natural conditions. During the test basic fire parameters were determined and presented compared to other results obtained in similar tests made also at SGSP, and compared to literature data. In the test, the fire gases temperature was measured with thermocouples and the surface temperature of the car body with thermocouples and a thermal imaging camera. Events related to fire development were recorded: falling out of windows, bursts of tires, explosions of actuators and elements of the braking system that could pose a threat to third parties or firemen. Moreover, difficulties associated with temperature measurements of a burning car were presented using a thermal imaging camera, and those are closely related to the incorrect emissivity coefficient. The benefits of the thermal imaging camera in measurements of the surface temperature of the object under the fire test were shown.