Construct · 1 fields · 1 citations

self-heating: a standalone construct

One name. One construct. A landmark on the map.

● anchor · a single construct in fire safety Nearest construct by meaning·not indexed
self-heating1 CONSTRUCTSelf-heatingTHOMAS · 1972

A single standalone construct; nearby constructs are located against it in the Collider. Tap a field for its definition, unit, and measures.

Fire safety / combustion

A pile heats itself until it ignites

In fire safety, self-heating is the process by which a bulk of reactive material (a haystack, a coal pile, oily rags, stored agricultural product) generates heat internally through slow oxidation or biological activity faster than it can shed that heat to its surroundings, so its temperature climbs until it reaches spontaneous ignition. Thomas's 1972 Self-heating and thermal ignition: A guide to its theory and application presents the Frank-Kamenetskii and Semenov framework in which ignition occurs once a body exceeds a critical size or ambient temperature where internal heat generation outruns heat loss. The referent is this runaway between internal heat production and external cooling, the cause of “spontaneous combustion” fires, governed by the body's size, shape, reactivity, and ambient temperature.[1]

Unit
The critical size or ambient temperature above which a body self-ignites
Recovery means
Not applicable
Measured by
Assessed by oven-basket tests across sample sizes to find the critical ambient temperature, interpreted through the Frank-Kamenetskii critical parameter

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Nearby constructs

autoignition2 fields · 2 citationsinvariant · one construct, two systemssmoldering2 fields · 3 citationsjingle · one word, two constructsbody2 fields · 3 citationsjingle · one word, two constructs

References

  1. Thomas, P. H. (1972). Self-heating and thermal ignition: A guide to its theory and application. In Ignition, heat release, and noncombustibility of materials (ASTM STP 502, pp. 56–82). ASTM International. https://doi.org/10.1520/stp32090s

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