Understanding the flammability of combustible materials at various ambient conditions is important for fire safety applications because fires may occur in environments different from standard atmosphere. In high altitude locations or in an aircraft, for example, the ambient pressure will be lower than at sea level. In the case of a spacecraft such as the International Space Station the cabin environment may be quite different, although the ambient pressure is approximately that of standard Earth, it includes microgravity, low velocity flows induced by the spacecraft ventilation. These low velocity flows (~20 cm/s) cannot be attained in normal gravity because flame induced buoyancy flows (~40 to 60 cm/s) would mask microgravity flows. Ambient pressure affects the buoyant flow induced by the flame and consequently also affects the way that flames spread. Thus, fire testing of materials may require different environments depending on the potential application of the material. The objective of this work is to provide further information of the effect of ambient pressure, and in turn buoyancy, on the upward concurrent spread of flames over a thin cotton fabric in low velocity air flows. The cotton material has been selected because it is common clothing material, and also because it will be one of the materials that will be tested in the microgravity experiments to be conducted during NASA's Spacecraft Fire Experiment (Saffire), on board of the Orbital Corporation Cygnus spacecraft.

International Seminar on Fire and Explosion Hazards (9; 2019; Saint Petersburg, Russia). Proceedings of the Ninth International Seminar on Fire and Explosion Hazards [Электронный ресурс]. Vol. 2: 21-26 April 2019, Saint Petersburg, Russia / Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University, Autonomous Non-Profit Organization "Fire and Explosion Safety", Gefest Holding Ltd ; [edited by A. Snegirev [et al.]. — Электрон. текстовые дан. (1 файл : 98,7 Мб). — Saint Petersburg, 2019. — Загл. с титул. экрана. — Свободный доступ из сети Интернет (чтение, печать, копирование). — Adobe Acrobat Reader 7.0. — <URL:http://elib.spbstu.ru/dl/2/k19-97.pdf>. — <URL:http://doi.org/10.18720/SPBPU/2/k19-97>.