Our entry into the Combustion Art contest, “Fan of Fire”, won 3rd place! Take a look at the image and abstract below, or go to the announcement: http://www.cssci.org/
Third Place — “Fan of Fire – Surface Inclination Effects on Upward Flame Spread”
“This “fan of fire” visually displays the effect gravity has on upward flame spread over thermally-thick materials. Starting from the left “ceiling fire”, as the inclination angle or tilt of a burning surface is increased underside flames transition from blue, well-mixed laminar flames into increasingly turbulent yellow flames on the topside that “lift” from the surface dramatically increasing the flame thickness. These images were taken perpendicular to the surface of a thick sample of Polymethyl Methacrylate mounted flush into insulation board as flames spread upward. These tests have helped in finding critical inclinations with maximum flame spread rates, burning rates and heat fluxes from the flame.”
Michael Gollner and Xinyan Huang (University of California, San Diego)