Extinguishing Deep-Seated Cargo Hold Fires with Carbon Dioxide
Abstract
This test program evaluated the effectiveness of carbon dioxide in extinguishing, controlling, and containing deep-seated Class A cargo fires. Tests were conducted to: identify a Class A test fuel closely simulating cotton without its high costs; determine an ignition source for creating and reproducing standard deep-seated fires, create deep-seated fire scenarios in single bales of cardboard test fuel for comparison with, and modeling of, full- scale cargo hold tests; and determine extinguishment, control, and confinement concentrations of carbon dioxide for Class A cargo hold fires. The results indicated that: corrugated cardboard with its low cost and rapid, sustained fire buildup represented the best Class A fuel substitute for cotton, electric (charcoal) ignitors (120V, 525W) were found to maintain high, reproducible test temperatures inside the bales, the single-bale chamber tests created model fire scenarios comparable to the full-scale tests for comparing time temperature curves and investigating the effects of different agent concentrations, the extinguishment of a deep-seated Class A cargo hold fire at sea is highly unlikely using the quantity of carbon dioxide which a vessel can economically carry, a carbon dioxide concentration of twenty-five percent or greater will, however, extinguish the superficial flames created by deep-seated fire, and this concentration will also contain and control the smoldering combustion to a rate which will not endanger the structural integrity of the vessel.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 01, 1983
- Accession Number
- ADA127977
Entities
People
- David E. Beene Jr.
- Robert C. Richards
Organizations
- United States Coast Guard Research & Development Center