U.S. Department of Transportation Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration Development of a Propane Burner for the UN 6c Bonfire Test Dr. Spencer Watson, US DOT/PHMSA, Washington, DC, USA Mr. Thaine Morris, MP Associates & JEMFX, Los Angeles, CA USA Mr. Elia Popov, JEMFX, Los Angeles, CA USA For the IGUS-EPP/CIE Working Group Meeting Oviedo, Spain April 7-12, 2013

U.S. Department of Transportation Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration RESEARCH OBJECTIVES Develop a simple, cost-effective, inexpensive propane fired burner unit that would meet UN Manual of Tests and Criteria requirements –Produce flame temperatures of at least C. ( ) i.e, immediately above burner. –Test Stand 0.5 meters from ground [ (c)] –Burning area 1 meter beyond test stand in any direction ( ) i.e., approx. 9 square meters total area. –Gas reservoir for at least 30 minutes ( )

U.S. Department of Transportation Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration Progress To Date (as of April 4, 2013) Initial Prototype Design of a 1 square meter propane burner was completed. Acquisition of all thermal monitoring probes and instrumentation, including thermal insulated lead-in wiring was completed. Construction of a 1 square meter test stand was completed. Prototype Burner first trial with thermal measurements was completed

U.S. Department of Transportation Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration Progress To Date - Continued Flame temperatures measured at and immediately above the burner surface were consistently in the range of C. We fell short of the C. Minimum flame temperatures required by the UNMTC. The reason for the low flame temperature was believed to be lack of sufficient oxygen, not gas flow, which was more than adequate to raise the flame heights to 1-2 meters above the burner surface

U.S. Department of Transportation Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration Progress to Date - Continued The first prototype design burner did not allow for any introduction of air in the gas feed or burner head. Wanted to see what the temperature of the undiluted propane could achieve first. Max. propane flow from both 30 gallon feed tanks was measured to be appox. 30 pounds (4.2 gallons) for 15 minutes or about 2 pounds/minute for the 1 square meter burner

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U.S. Department of Transportation Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration On to Step 2 JEM FX changed the flame pipe design and next built a 3 meter X 3 meter full size prototype burner with 14 slotted pipe propane feeds 8 inches apart. The prototype burner design has two feed lines, and diagonally slotted cuts in the pipe every inch to incorporate varying amounts of air if needed to meet the required C. flame temperatures

U.S. Department of Transportation Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration

U.S. Department of Transportation Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration

U.S. Department of Transportation Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration

U.S. Department of Transportation Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration

U.S. Department of Transportation Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration A Typical UN 6c Bonfire Test With Wood Lath Fuel

U.S. Department of Transportation Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration Temperature Profile for Prototype 3x3m Propane Burner

U.S. Department of Transportation Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration

U.S. Department of Transportation Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration Future Work? We have not achieved our goals yet, but plan to run more tests with additional propane bottles sufficient to prevent icing effects which limit flow of gas and boost air content to increase temperatures. We plan to modify the structure to accommodate the test stand in the middle of the grid approx. 0.3 meters above the flame bed. While liquid fuel fires require 0.5 meters above the fuel pans, that height is probably unnecessary for propane. We hope to soon achieve a cleaner, more uniform, less smoky fire source for the UN 6c Bonfire Test, that will permit clearer observations of the events on the witness stand as they might occur