含水率及燃烧性能等级对中密度纤维板点燃行为及安全性能影响的研究

采用锥形量热仪,在不同辐射热流强度下,对三种燃烧性能等级(B级、C级和非阻燃)的中密度纤维板在不同相对湿度(0%、50%和98%)形成的含水率条件下进行了辐射引燃实验,测得点燃时间和热释放速率等参数。利用点燃理论中热厚型积分模型,推导了不同含水率不同燃烧性能等级(防火等级)纤维板的临界辐射热通量。通过对比发现,点燃时间随着板材含水率的增加而明显增大,而临界辐射热通量则几乎不受环境相对湿度(即含水率)的影响。添加阻燃剂可延长点燃时间,使板材临界辐射热通量增加,并能有效地降低纤维板材燃烧时的热释放速率。阻燃纤维板的临界辐射热通量要明显高于非阻燃纤维板,但是阻燃纤维板材之间相比,临界辐射热通量差别不大。因而,从本质安全的角度对材料的安全性进行评价,不能将临界辐射热通量作为单一的标准,必须综合多个参数进行全面评价。     

基于遗传算法的前馈神经网络火灾探测

分析了前馈神经网络火灾探测的基本原理;针对ＢＰ算法的缺陷,提出用遗传算法（ＧＡ）和ＢＰ相结合的一种方法,即：ＢＰ－ＧＡ算法;并把ＢＰ－ＧＡ算法用于火灾探测的模拟,结果表明：前馈神经网络是处理火灾信号的良好方法,ＢＰ－ＧＡ算法提高了网络的收剑性。     

格栅类通透性吊顶对水喷淋控火性能影响的实验研究

通过实验研究了格栅类通透性吊顶对水喷淋控火性能的影响,并利用燃料燃尽时间来计算控火有效性因子来量化这种影响.研究结果表明:格栅会降低水喷淋控火性能,与格栅类吊顶形式、喷头安装高度和工作压力流量有关.在确定的吊顶形式和尺寸下,存在着对控火性能影响最大的喷头安装高度.在实际工程应用中应根据具体格栅特性,合理设计喷头安装高度,以降低格栅的不利影响,保证水喷淋的控火有效性.     

集合卡曼滤波算法对FARSITE模型林火蔓延预测的修正效果研究

针对火源位置输入偏差导致的FARSITE林火行为模型火线预测不准确的问题,提出了一种基于集合卡曼滤波算法的动态修正方法。利用FARSITE对复杂工况下的林火蔓延过程进行数值模拟,以火线位置为待修正参量,以均方根误差(RMSE)为评价指标,对算法的可行性进行了验证,并研究了算法的集合元素个数,观测数据标准差及同化频率对FARSITE预测偏差的修正效果的影响。结果表明:算法能显著提高FARSITE火线预测精度;逐时同化时:集合元素个数为5 时,算法的修正效果并不理想,随着集合元素个数增大,样本误差减小,修正效果得到改善,但增大到30以上时, 修正能力的提升就不再明显;观测数据标准差大小与RMSE值呈正相关;给定条件下当同化频率由1 h/次降低至2 h/次,整个模拟时长内的误差仍能得到较好控制,RMSE曲线并不会过快增长。     

Experimental investigation on extinguishing performance of a novel nanocomposite for gaseous fires

A novel nanocomposite was synthesized by incorporating three different types of flame-retardants and its extinguishing performance was tested for gaseous fires. The nanocomposite consists of the inorganic magnesium hydroxide (MH) nanoparticles as the dominant component, the nitrogen-based melamine cyanurate (MCA), and the phosphorus-based ODOPB. The wet mixing, dry mixing, and ultrasonic agitation were employed in the preparation process to enhance the homogeneity of the nanocomposite. The prepared powders were characterized using a series of analytical instruments including X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), thermal gravity analyzer (TGA), and differential scanning calorimeter (DSC). The efficiency of various samples in extinguishing gaseous fires was investigated in a lab-scale extinguishing system. The fire extinguishing tests indicated that the nanocomposite is considerably more effective in fire extinguishing than other powders in terms of extinction time and agent mass consumed. The fire extinction time of nanocomposite was 45.2% shorter than that of commercial ABC-MAP powder. Furthermore, the consumed amount of nanocomposite was 63.2% less than that of commercial powder. In addition, the order of extinguishing mass concentrations was as follows: the novel nanocomposite (103.7 g/m³) < MH/MCA (148.1 g/m³) < MH/ODOPB (155.6 g/m³) < MH (170.4 g/m³) < commercial ABC powder (281.5 g/m³) < MCA/ODOPB (384.1 g/m³). The fire suppression mechanisms of the nanocomposite were also discussed. It was inferred that the extinguishing mechanism of nanocomposite comprised of simultaneous chemical and physical inhibition actions involving chemical inhibition action, cooling action, and asphyxiation action. This study provides a promising attempt to gain benefits from the striking features of nanotechnology and flame-retardants in extinguishing gaseous fires.     

Influence of thermal environment on metallographic structure characteristics of the electric arc bead pattern

Electrical apparatuses are prone to arc, which generally causes a fire, even an explosion hazard, when a flammable gas mixture is present, especially during industrial processes. Terrible fire scenes are challenging for fire investigations. In this work, by performing a simultaneous thermal analysis test we simulated a fire environment and found that as the oxygen concentration decreased, the oxidation/exothermic peak temperature of ‘cause’ bead became higher, but the melting temperature was unaffected. Results indicated that the bead pattern underwent oxidation at approximately 831 °C, melting initiated at approximately 1060 °C, and the pattern then disappeared. The melted pattern grain changes were divided into three critical temperature stages: Approximately 600 °C, the onset temperature at which the melted pattern grains began to be equiaxed; approximately 831 °C, at which the grains were interspersed with oxygen-containing material; and 831–1060 °C, when the grains disappeared, which is a criterion for identifying electrical fires. However, the boundaries remained throughout the thermal environment process. Moreover, the bead pattern demonstrated three metallographic regions: Deep layer (Region I), the intermediate layer (Region Ⅱ), and surface layer (Region Ⅲ). Region I was the most thermally sensitive, in which equiaxed crystals first appeared. Region Ⅲ was the thermal reaction lag zone, in which the typical branching crystals finally disappeared, and Region Ⅱ was intermediate between Regions I and Ⅲ. The results may help fire investigators determine the fire scene temperature stages and provide support for fire evidence extraction.     

Development of inherent safety and health index for formulated product design

The numerous formulated products which are introduced to the market consist of chemical ingredients that may cause various safety and health hazards to the consumers. Therefore, it is extremely important to practice a systematic methodology to formulate products with acceptable safety and health performances. This work presents an index-based methodology to assess the safety and health hazards of the ingredients during the early formulation stage of product design. Hence, new inherent safety and health sub-indexes are introduced to improve the current safety and health hazards that are needed in formulated product design. The inherent safety and health sub-indexes are assigned with scores based on the degree of potential hazards. A higher score indicates a higher safety risk or severe health effect, and vice versa. The proposed methodology will greatly assist the users to identify the adverse safety and health effects caused by the ingredients. Hence, it is pivotal to eliminate or reduce the safety and health impacts from product usage. A case study on common ingredients used in the formulation of paint is presented on this study to describe the proposed method.     

中国煤矿火灾的防治

分析了中国煤矿历年火灾与安全技术工程的关系,火灾类别、发火部位、与频率的统计;介绍了煤矿内外因火灾防治方法的沿革与发展,包括注浆、阻化剂、均压防灭火,注氮情化防火,高泡、燃油惰气灭火等的实例与成效。     

Lack of detectable nepotism in multiple-queen colonies of the fire ant Solenopsis invicta (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

Multiple-queen (polygyne) colonies of the introduced fire ant Solenopsis invicta present a paradox for kin selection theory. Egg-laying queens within these societies are, on average, unrelated to one another, and the numbers of queens per colony are high, so that workers appear to raise new sexuals that are no more closely related to them than are random individuals in the population. This paradox could be resolved if workers discriminate between related and unrelated nestmate sexuals in important fitness-related contexts. This study examines the possibility of such nepotism using methods that combine the following features: (1) multiple relevant behavioral assays, (2) colonies with an unmanipulated family structure, (3) multiple genetic markers with no known phenotypic effects, and (4) a statistical technique for distinguishing between nepotism and potentially confounding phenomena. We estimated relatedness between interactants in polygyne S. invicta colonies in two situations, workers tending egg-laying queens and workers feeding maturing winged queens. In neither case did we detect a significant positive value of relatedness that would implicate nepotism. We argue that the non-nepotistic strategies displayed by these ants reflect historical selection pressures experienced by native populations, in which nestmate queens are highly related to one another. The markedly different genetic structure in native populations may favor the operation of stronger higher-level selection that effectively opposes weaker individual-level selection for nepotistic interactions within nests. Received: 28 June 1996 / Accepted after revision: 6 October 1996     

Integrating models to predict regional haze from wildland fire

Visibility impairment from regional haze is a significant problem throughout the continental United States. A substantial portion of regional haze is produced by smoke from prescribed and wildland fires. Here we describe the integration of four simulation models, an array of GIS raster layers, and a set of algorithms for fire-danger calculations into a modeling framework for simulating regional-scale smoke dispersion. We focus on a representative fire season (2003) in the northwestern USA, on a 12 km domain, and track the simulated dispersion and concentration of PM_2.5 over the course of the season. Simulated visibility reductions over national parks and wilderness areas are within the ranges of measured values at selected monitoring sites, although the magnitudes of peak events are underestimated because these include inputs other than fire. By linking the spatial and temporal patterns of haze-producing emissions to climatic variability, particularly synoptic weather patterns, and the stochastic nature of fire occurrence across the region, we can provide a robust method for estimating the quantity and distribution of fire-caused regional haze under climate-warming scenarios.