Estimations of heat release rate curve of railcar fire

This paper presents curve estimations of the heat release rate of an intercity railcar fire. Three different estimation approaches were used, which were compared with a full-scale fire test of the car. Two of these approaches were based on the assumption of a specific burning rate of materials with the heat release rate per unit area and burning area decision. The curve of the heat release rate of an actual railcar fire was measured by using the ignition scenario in EN 45545-1. In the fire test, the surface temperature of every part of the interior was measured by using the burning area decision for summation method estimation. The third approach used combustion and reaction heat to analyze microscopic-material pyrolysis. The pyrolysis model requires more sophisticated material property inputs to achieve the same degree of curve accuracy. The differences and similarities between the experimental fire curves and estimations were analyzed.