Experimental study of cracking effect on wood ignition and combustion behavior

Jingjun Shi, Haowei Hu, Jie Ji, Junrui Duan and Jiping Zhu

Energy, 2025, vol. 336, issue C

Abstract: Wood cracking is a very common phenomenon that increases the exposed surface area, but the effect of cracking on the ignition and combustion behavior of wood is poorly understood. In this study, cone calorimeter experiments on beech logs with different crack sizes (width: 0–3 cm; depth: 0–4 cm) under different external radiant heat flux (9–50 kW/m2) were carried out, to investigate the cracking effect on the ignition and combustion behavior of wood. The experimental results showed that the ignition parameters such as ignition time and critical mass loss rate, exhibited minimal variation across the current crack size. This consistency can be attributed to the low heat flux received in the crack before ignition and the limited promotion of pyrolysis. This conclusion is supported by calculations of radiation and convection. Meanwhile, crack size variation has a large effect on combustion behavior, as shown by the increasing trend of the average mass loss rate with increasing crack depth and width. A mass loss rate prediction model based on mass transfer number (B-number) was established by introducing the characteristic length considering the crack size, and the calculated values of this model are in good agreement with the experimental values.

Keywords: Wood cracking; Ignition time; Mass loss rate; Mass transfer number (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:energy:v:336:y:2025:i:c:s0360544225041362

DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2025.138494

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