doi:10.3850/978-981-08-7724-8_15-01

ABSTRACT

This paper reports results from a combined experimental-modeling effort which complements the development of CFD tools for the modeling of large-scale fire phenomena. Pyrolysis experiments were performed in a Fire Propagation Apparatus (FPA) for polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) samples over a wide range of heat fluxes. These data are used to extract material properties numerically by coupling a 1-D pyrolysis model to an automated evolutionary optimisation algorithm in which material properties are varied so that the best possible agreement between model and experimental data is obtained. It is shown that the methodology described is sufficiently efficient and robust so that it can be generalised to treat larger problems. Properties obtained for PMMA are reasonable and comparable to those found in the literature. Furthermore, model results also compare favorably against data not used as optimisation targets, which increases confidence in the obtained parameters.

Keywords: Fire propagation apparatus, Pyrolysis, PMMA, Material properties, Optimisation.

© 2011 CPD Unit, University of Leeds