Experimental study of the effect of spark power on piloted ignition of wood at different altitudes

Generally, a continuous spark is used in piloted-ignition experiments on combustible materials. However, the potential effect of the spark’s power in such experiments, has been ignored in previous studies. In this article, experiments are carried out to assess the effect of spark power on the ignition characteristics of fir at different altitudes characterized by atmospheric pressures of 0.77 and 1.0 atm. It is concluded that ignition time becomes shorter with an increase of spark power. With a rise in spark power, the mass flux at ignition and the critical heat flux decline in the ignition process. Ignition time is found to be more sensitive to spark power in lower altitudes.