Publications

Numerical examination of two-dimensional smolder structure in polyurethane foam

Dodd, Amanda B.; Lautenberger, C.; Fernandez-Pello, A.C.

Although smolder combustion has been extensively studied both computationally and experimentally, relatively few theoretical studies have examined the two-dimensional structure of the smolder wave. In this paper, two-dimensional smolder in polyurethane foam is modeled with a two-dimensional numerical formulation that includes a seven-step kinetic model of the polyurethane smolder reaction mechanism. The two-dimensional model formulation includes the effects of heat, mass, species, and momentum transfer of the porous solid and gas phase. The seven-step decomposition reaction mechanism, which includes a secondary char oxidation and an additional char pyrolysis step, was developed using genetic algorithm optimization. The mechanism is capable of modeling both forward and opposed smolder. The model was used to study the two-dimensionality of a forward propagating smolder wave. The model results show a two-dimensional structure in the temperature, species, and reaction profiles that agrees qualitatively with experimental observations. Oxygen is consumed at the reaction front, as expected, which leads to different reaction pathways governing the final products (i.e. thermal char and oxidative char). It was found that the model response is sensitive to boundary conditions, thermal properties, and heats of reaction for the char oxidation reaction. The incorporation of the secondary oxidation reaction step in the model paves the way to further analysis of the transition to flaming process. © 2009 The Combustion Institute. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.