Human safety levels for soot - FDS

[Caryle]

Hi there,

Procedure:

I simulated smoke in the first floor of my school's building and measured parameters soot, carbon monoxide, temperature, visibility, temp., CO, smoke detectors, and CO2 along the hallways of the building over time. All were placed exactly on the markers below.

Visual:

Problem/Purpose of project:

I am planning to plot a scatter graph with soot over time. Markers 1 to 12 will be graphed, so 12 total lines showing how soot increased.

And create a horizontal line that extends across the whole graph that marks "MAXIMUM Soot level for humans" so that I can determine the time at which a specific marker has passed the safe level.

Is this task possible to achieve I only use "soot (mol/mol)" data?

For example, I simulated this for 10 mins. and got a maximum value of soot in the location of burner of 0.0390 mol/mol @ t=10mins.

Is that a small number? It's weird, because if I were to stay in that room for 10 minutes locked up, I'm sure I would have passed out.

Also, I have not found a "safety level" for the amount of soot a human can inhale over time so I will assume EPA's 12 micrograms/m3 for particulate matter (PM_2.5), soot measurements along the hallway over time. Eventually, if this works out, I will convert soot mol/mol to microgram.

Does anyone have any other recommendations of what I can do using the data I currently have? I also have CO, CO2, etc. measured. It's fine if I were to switch to a different topic, but I need to use this data.

Many thanks,

Caryle

[D D]

The soot values are not inherently a threat because they depend on various factors. Typically soot inhalation does not impose a direct hazard, at least not before other parameters may become more lethal such as CO or HCl concentration. But in your case I believe the criterion that comes first to satisfy is a sufficient level of visibility. I would recommend having a look at chapter 63 of SFPE HB.

[Kevin McGrattan]

What output quantity are you using for soot? I suggest you use 

&DEVC ID='...', QUANTITY='MASS FRACTION', QUANTITY='SOOT' /

which will produce output in kg/m3. 

As for 12 micrograms per m3 -- this value is extremely low. It is used to assess long term health conditions. It is not a good short term indicator of habitability. 

[dr_jfloyd]

I think that should be:

&DEVC ID='...,QUANTITY='DENSITY',SPEC_ID='SOOT',.../

.

[Kevin McGrattan]

Yes, Jason is right

[Caryle]

Thank you everyone. SFPE Ch 63 is helping and I will change Soot to density. I'll try that out for now :)

On Wednesday, March 10, 2021 at 12:24:16 PM UTC-5 Kevin wrote:

Yes, Jason is right