ABSTRACT
Intuitively, the rate of heat release from an unwanted fire is a major indication of the threat of the fire to life and property. Historically, heat release measurements of burning materials were based on the temperature rise of ambient air as it passed over the burning object. Faced with the challenge of measuring the heat release of combustible wall linings during full-scale room fire tests, William Parker, Huggett's colleague at NBS, investigated an alternative approach based on a simple fact of physics: in addition to the release of heat, the combustion process consumes oxygen. Huggett performed a detailed analysis of the critical assumption of constant proportionality of oxygen consumption to heat release. Instead of expressing results on a unit volume basis, as Parker did, Huggett expressed results in the more convenient and less ambiguous unit mass of oxygen consumed.
