Abstract
Understanding of the physics and mechanisms of fire development and externally venting flames (EVF) in corridor-like enclosures is fundamental to studying fire spread to adjacent floors in high-rise buildings. This work aims to investigate the burning behaviour of a liquid fuel pool fire in a corridor-like enclosure and to identify the key factors influencing EVF characteristics and its impact on façades. A series of experiments is conducted in a medium-scale corridor-facade configuration using ethanol pool fires. A new fuel supply system has been developed to keep the fuel level constant to minimize lip effects. The influence of fuel surface area and ventilation factor on the fire development is also investigated. Experimental measurements consist of mass loss, heat release rate, temperatures and heat fluxes inside the corridor and on the facade. Three distinct burning regions are observed and their characteristics depend on both the pan size and ventilation factor. A power dependence of EVF height in relation to excess external heat release rate has been found. The impact of EVF on the façade is investigated by measuring heat flux on the façade using thin steel plate probes. It is found that the characteristics of EVF strongly depend on opening dimensions and for large opening widths EVF tend to emerge from the opening as two separate fire plumes.
Highlights
Understanding of the physics and mechanisms of fire development in enclosures and flames emerging through openings is fundamental to studying fire spread to adjacent floors or buildings
As the mass flow rate of gaseous fuels must be pre-defined, it does not consider the interaction between the flame, the hot gas layer and the pyrolysis rate of the fuel, which is of fundamental importance in growth and development of real fires
We presented an experimental work of liquid pool fires in a reduced-scale corridor-like enclosure, aiming with emphasis to examine the influence of the pool size, location and ventilation openings on the geometric characteristics of externally venting flames (EVF) and their impact on the façade
Summary
Understanding of the physics and mechanisms of fire development in enclosures and flames emerging through openings is fundamental to studying fire spread to adjacent floors or buildings. Recent high-rise building fires around the world highlight the importance of understanding the mechanisms of fire spread at the interior of buildings and those due to Externally Venting Flames (EVF) [1,2]. As the mass flow rate ( heat release rate) of gaseous fuels must be pre-defined, it does not consider the interaction between the flame, the hot gas layer and the pyrolysis rate of the fuel, which is of fundamental importance in growth and development of real fires. This work investigates the burning behaviour of a liquid fuel pool fire in a corridor-like enclosure and the heat impact of the subsequent externally venting flames (EVF) on the façade. Correlations are developed for external flame height of EVF and heat flux on the façade and compared to the ones obtained using gaseous fuels [4,5]
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