For more than a century, smoke explosions have been documented in the fire research literature. Yet even with this long history, smoke explosions have received very little attention in the fire research community. The few review articles on unexplained explosions (overpressure events) have adopted the conventional names of smoke explosions, backdraft, smoke gas explosions or rapid fire progression. Anecdotal evidence from firefighters have shown a number of overpressure events that cannot be explained as a gas leak or flammable liquids ignition. In this study, experiments were conducted in a plywood lined compartment with a timber crib as a sustained fire source and the ignition source. The compartment had a single vent that was open for the entire time. After an extended period of burning, the flames detached from the crib, traveled around the compartment, and finally self-extinguished. Sometime after the flames self-extinguished, the compartment erupted in flames culminating in a large horizontal flame projecting more than 2 m from the vent opening. In this study, a consistent cycle that leads to an overpressure event has been identified. A total of 29 overpressure events were created in 13 experiments with many experiments experiencing multiple overpressure events. Gas species, compartment temperatures, vent velocities, and compartment pressure were all recorded during the experiments. Conditions in the compartment immediately prior to the overpressure event are reported. Having demonstrated that an overpressure event within a combustible compartment can be reproduced, future research is recommended to better quantify the conditions leading to an overpressure event.

一个多世纪以来，火灾研究文献中一直记录着烟雾爆炸。然而，尽管有着悠久的历史，烟雾爆炸在火灾研究界却很少受到关注。少数关于不明原因爆炸（超压事件）的评论文章采用了烟雾爆炸、回燃、烟气爆炸或快速火势蔓延等传统名称。消防队员的轶事证据显示，许多超压事件无法解释为气体泄漏或易燃液体着火。在这项研究中，实验是在胶合板内衬的隔间中进行的，并以木床作为持续火源和点火源。隔间有一个始终打开的通风口。经过长时间的燃烧，火焰从婴儿床上脱离，绕着车厢蔓延，最后自行熄灭。火焰自熄后的一段时间，车厢内突然爆发火焰，最终形成一团巨大的水平火焰，从通风口伸出超过 2 m。在这项研究中，已经确定了导致超压事件的一致循环。13 个实验中总共创建了 29 个超压事件，其中许多实验经历了多个超压事件。实验过程中记录了气体种类、隔室温度、排气速度和隔室压力。报告超压事件发生之前隔间内的状况。证明可重现可燃室内的超压事件后，建议未来的研究更好地量化导致超压事件的条件。