Free-convective regime of flame spread over a fuel film on a substrate

Flame spread over a liquid fuel film on a thin metallic substrate under free convection was studied experimentally. Instantaneous flame velocities correlate with the flame length. The average flame velocity increases from 2 to 30–40 cm/sec with the slope angle of the substrate to the horizon varying in the range of 0–90°. For a substrate of specified width, the flame velocity is inversely proportional to the heat capacity of the unit area of the substrate-fuel system and to the differences between the temperature corresponding to the formation of a stoichiometric mixture of the saturated fuel vapor and air and the ambient temperature.