A critical analysis on the fire safety aspects of furniture

Consequent to several big fires in Hong Kong, local citizens are more concerned about furniture fires. Local government has started to review this issue seriously. As furniture plays a prominent role in fatal fire scenarios, a detailed investigation of the probable hazards due to furniture fires is necessary. The objective of this thesis is to carry out an in-depth study on the fire safety aspects of furniture.; General aspects of furniture fires were reviewed first. The relevant regulations, standards and other investigations on the fire safety aspects of furniture were then reported. Key aspects such as thermal properties of materials, smoke production, toxic potency, fire retardant and the effects on and due to the burning environment were considered. Local furnitures were studied by bench-scale experiments with a cone calorimeter and full-scale burning tests through a room calorimeter in China. Typical furniture and materials including wood, foam, cloth and plastic materials commonly used were tested under different fire conditions. Key parameters such as the heat release rate, smoke release rate, productions of carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide by burning those samples were measured.; In the above study, available equations on calculating heat release rate with the oxygen consumption method were further reviewed. A general equation was derived. Corrections for incomplete combustion under different environments and with fire suppression were discussed. Superposition of the heat release rate curves of individual furniture components was proposed to give the overall results. Such recommendation was justified by functional analysis.; Burning furniture in a room might onset flashover. As observed from full-scale and bench-scale tests in this study, burning furnitures (not yet ignited) under a flashover fire would give very different pictures. Therefore, furniture is suggested to be tested in a well-developed fire.; A fire risk ranking system with three parameters on flashover propensity, total heat released and smoke toxicity through lethal toxic potency is proposed based on the above study. Potential hazards of different furniture materials can then be specified. The ranking system will be useful for the authorities to set up relevant regulations on controlling the furniture materials.