Theory 07/Fire Safety Engineering
Flashover Is a Heat-to-Ventilation Ratio
The claim
Time to flashover is set by the ratio of heat release rate to the ventilation factor rather than by the fuel load.
01Mechanism
Hot gases accumulate when heat release outpaces ventilation; the ratio determines whether the upper layer reaches ignition temperature.
02Predictions
- P1Flashover time should track the ratio.
- P2Fuel load alone should mispredict.
03Refutation
Flashover tracking fuel load would remove the ventilation term.