SPECIAL FEATURES OF PROPAGATION OF PEAT FIRE

A. N. Subbotin

UDC 536.24:533.6

The laws governing propagation of peat fire under varying 
outer conditions and different moisture contents are studied. Critical 
values of moisture content and the conditions of heat and mass exchange 
of a peat bed and the surrounding medium under which combustion can 
stop are determined based on numerical calculations. It is found that 
under certain conditions the combustion wave propagates along the 
peat bed even in the absence of air influx from the outer medium. 
The assumption that in small losses of heat to the outer medium the 
combustion wave will propagate along the bed surface and in intense 
heat transfer it will move into the depth of the bed is confirmed. 
It is shown that in combustion of a thick bed of peat layer-by-layer 
combustion may take place.

Tomsk State University, 36 Lenin Ave., Tomsk, 634059, 
Russia; email: fire@fire.tsu.tomsk.su. Translated from Inzhenerno-Fizicheskii 
Zhurnal, Vol. 76, No. 5, pp. 159-165, September-October, 2003. 
Original article submitted January 14, 2003.