TY - JOUR A1 - Hofmann-Böllinghaus, Anja A1 - Knaust, Christian A1 - Krüger, Simone A1 - Raspe, Tina A1 - Deubel, Jan T1 - Detailed analysis of a smouldering fire scenario at the murder scene - experimental and numerical investigations N2 - Based on forensic evidence, a smouldering fire was observed to have occurred at a murder scene. Identification of a reasonable timeline – specifically the fire dynamics of the ignition and fire growth that occurred coincident with the death that took place – became an important focus of the criminal investigation that followed. The fire service was called when a neighbour saw a grey smoke escaping through the ventilation system of the bathrooms on the roof of the house. One flat door with elevated temperatures was found. The fire fighter who entered the flat first reported later that the flat was completely filled with smoke and all windows were closed. When the fire fighter opened the balcony door, he saw flames on the sofa that he extinguished. Then he found a body on the floor. The autopsy showed later that the victim was dead before the fire started. The police suspected that the murderer probably had deliberately set the fire to destroy evidence. One suspect had been witnessed to be in the flat approximately 2 h before the fire was detected by the neighbour. The aim of this project was to investigate how the fire most likely started and developed. KW - Fire investigation KW - Smouldering fire KW - Fire development KW - Crime KW - Numerical modelling PY - 2014 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/fam.2222 SN - 0308-0501 SN - 1099-1018 VL - 38 IS - 8 SP - 806 EP - 816 PB - Heyden CY - London AN - OPUS4-32016 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Knaust, Christian A1 - Hofmann-Böllinghaus, Anja T1 - Full scale investigations of fast spreading room fires N2 - Brände in Wohnungen entwickeln sich heutzutage sehr schnell, weil der Anteil an brennbaren Materialien in Einrichtungsgegenständen und elektrischen Geräte in den letzten Jahren signifikant zugenommen hat. Insbesondere Brände in Kinderzimmern können sehr gefährlich sein, was mehrere Brände in Deutschland in den letzten Jahren belegen. Um die Brand- und Rauchentwicklung bei einem solchen Brand zu untersuchen, wurde ein Testraum wie ein typisches Kinderzimmer möbliert und mit 36 Thermoelementen sowie einem Druckmessgerät ausgestattet. Zusätzlich wurden Rauchmelder installiert. Der Brand wurde mittels eines Teelichts initiiert, das für ca. eine Sekunde mit einer Matratze in Kontakt gebracht wurde. Der Feuerüberschlag fand nach nur vier Minuten statt. Sowohl die Brandlast als auch die Brand- und Rauchentwicklung wurden untersucht. Vorschriften zur Brandsicherheit von Einrichtungsgegenständen, elektrischen Geräten und Spielzeugen wurden diskutiert. Ergänzend wurde der Temperaturanstieg im Brandraum unter Anwendung des Verfahrens von McCaffrey vorhergesagt.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fires in homes develop very fast nowadays, because the amount of combustible materials in furniture and electrical devices has increased significantly in recent years. Especially fires in children's rooms can be very hazardous as several recent fires in Germany showed. To investigate the fire and smoke development in such a fire the test room was furnished like a typical children’s room and equipped with 36 thermocouples and a pressure measurement device. Also smoke detectors were installed. The fire was ignited by a small candle which was in contact with a mattress only for one second. Flashover occurred only after 4 minutes. The fire load and the fire and smoke development were investigated. The fire safety regulations for the furnishings, electrical devices and toys were discussed. Additionally the temperature rise in the compartment was predicted according to the method of McCaffrey. PY - 2014 UR - http://www.hanser-elibrary.com/doi/pdf/10.3139/120.110518 SN - 0025-5300 VL - 56 IS - 1 SP - 7 EP - 15 PB - Hanser CY - München AN - OPUS4-30232 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -