A Method for Evaluating Smoke Control on Ships Using SF6 Tracer Gas.

This study was the first of a series whose overall objective is to evaluate the possibility of applying smoke control techniques to Coast Guard cutters. A technique was developed that can determine the movement of room temperature air by using the easily detectable tracer gas sulfur hexafluoride SF6. The supporting equipment is transportable and field operational. Evaluation of the technique demonstrated under field conditions on an operational CG cutter that quantitative data on air flow characteristics of ventilation systems can be obtained. All tests were conducted on the 210 foot USCGC VIGOROUS. Test results indicated that SF6 can be easily and effectively used to show the air transfer patterns of existing heating, ventilation and air conditioning HVAC systems. It can also be used to test for watertight integrity and identify critical areas in current ventilation systems. Further work needs to be done with this technique to correlate cold air movement with hot air movement. In addition to correlating the present technique, future work would modify the technique in attempts to closer simulate hot smoke movement.