Theoretical analysis of the effects of cigarette design parameters on the smoldering rates, heat flux, and total heat released during smoldering of acigarette
Sc. Yi et al., Theoretical analysis of the effects of cigarette design parameters on the smoldering rates, heat flux, and total heat released during smoldering of acigarette, J FIRE SCI, 19(1), 2001, pp. 18-30
A mathematical model developed by Muramatsu, Umemura, and Okada (1979) was
modified and improved by changing the relative amounts of radiative and con
ductive heat transfer to study the effects of moisture content in the cigar
ette, cigarette packing density, and cigarette circumference on the smolder
ing rates, heat flux, and total heat released during natural smolder of a c
igarette.
A mathematically predicted temperature profile was fitted to the correspond
ing experimental values with a nonlinear least-square fitting routine to ob
tain a smoldering rate and the relative amounts of radiative and conductive
heat transfer. Then, based on the relative contribution of heat transfer m
odes, the heat flux and the total heat released were calculated with the fi
tted smoldering rate as a function of cigarette design parameters.
Results show that the circumference of the cigarette is the major physical
factor affecting mass burn rate (MBR), while the packing density of the cig
arette strongly affects the linear burn rate (LBR), heat flux, and total he
at released.