The isothermal thermogravimetric analysis of coal has been carried out by changing the oxygen concentration of the heating atmosphere at the temperature range of 400, 450, 500 and 600°C. The effect of oxygen concentrations of 1 - 50% of the flow gas is discussed based on the weight loss curves and the IR spectra. The kinetic parameters of the exothermic oxidizing reactions of coal in the isothermal thermogravimetric analysis have been evaluated.

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A Computer simulation of the spontaneous combustion of coal in a silo has been developed taking into consideration the mass transfer of oxygen via air diffusion in the pores of the coal zone. The numerical calculation has been carried out by a Finite Element Method (FEM). The adequacy of this model has been investigated by the comparison of the compared results with data obtained from a full-scale experiment with a coal silo.

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Wall fire behavior in the dual opening compartment, which has two openings, door and window, was investigated experimentally using a reduced scale model. Fire behavior in the dual opening compartment was characterized by the window effect. Window opening was exclusively used for gas outflow from compartment, because the neutral plane at the window was always below the window sill. Consequently no inflow air was observed at the window opening. So the neutral plane height at the door opening became higher than that for the case of single opening situation. The equivalent opening height was defined using the neutral plane height fraction to investigate the data of dual opening compartment fires.
Remarkable difference between wall and floor fires in the dual opening compartment was observed in the behavior of smoke outflow from compartment. Smoke chiefly flew out from the window opening for the floor fire situation, while the smoke flew out from both door and window openings for the wall fire situation. This fact suggests that the flow pattern within the compartment could depend on the difference of these fire situations of wall and floor. Another interesting result is concerned with an oscillatory phenomenon. An oscillatory phenomenon was observed in the dual opening compartment fires as well as the single opening compartment fires. But this oscillation was observed only in the floor fire situation. No oscillation could be found for any ventilation condition in the wall fire situation. Probably that reason may be related to the temperature profile within a compartment. Because the temperature profile for the wall fire situation was considerably different from that for the floor fire situation. The relationship between the temperature profile within a compartment and fuel orientation may be a future problem.

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Comparison of the mass burning rate of upholstered chairs in three different burning locations, at the center of a room, alongside a wall and in the corner of walls, was produced. The experimental results show us that the mass burning rate of upholstered chairs can be assumed to be the same value independent of burning location in a room. The flame height, the temperature along the centerline above a heat source, and the irradiance from the flame are discussed. They are expressed with an empirical formula as a function of mass burning rate or heat release rate.

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Recently the fire research and testing has become active in the whole world. There are many fire laboratories and some new laboratory may be going to be established in some place. This paper focuses on the activities of may laboratories mainly in Japan and some of them in ASIAN countries.

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