A new method to calculate adiabatic surface temperature using plate thermometer in an ambient condition

Highlights: • A new calculation method for adiabatic surface temperature is proposed. • The new method is validated through actual fire experiments. • The new method shows improved accuracy when compared to an existing method. -- Abstract: Adiabatic surface temperature (AST) is a useful and convenient concept to characterize the thermal boundary condition that a solid surface is exposed to. Plate thermometer (PT) is often used to calculate AST. However, in an ambient temperature condition, the calculated AST is known to be significantly lower than actual AST. Faced with this challenge, a new method to calculate AST using PT is proposed in the current study. A correlation to determine AST from measured PT temperature in steady state is first developed in a radiation-only environment. Based on this correlation, a correlation for AST is derived for a mixed radiation/convection environment, i.e., for any given convective heat transfer coefficient. AST calculated based on the proposed method is validated against two pool fires.