A. James Clark School of Engineering

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Analysis and Measurement of Candle Flame Shapes
(2008-05-07) Tabaka, Gregory Allen; Sunderland, Peter B; Quintiere, James G; Fire Protection Engineering; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
A combined analytical and experimental study was performed to produce and validate a method by which the lengths and widths of flames burning on wax candles can be predicted. Two analogies are drawn: first, that heat transfer from the wick can be modeled as a slender vertical rod undergoing a natural convection process surrounded by a stagnant film; and second, that fuel pyrolyzed from the wick surface that remains unburned until above the wick can be modeled as flow from a circular port burner. Empirical correlations applied to the theoretical equations have produced reasonable agreement with measured flame lengths and widths for paraffin candles.