Experimental Study of the Effect of Confining on the Development of Fire in a Closed Compartment

Fidel Meskeoule Vondou,Ruben Mouangue,Philippe Onguene Mvogo,Claude Valery Ngayihi Abbe,Justin Tégawendé Zaida,Benjamin Shaw

doi:10.1155/2021/6662830

Fidel Meskeoule Vondou, Ruben Mouangue + Show 4 more

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https://doi.org/10.1155/2021/6662830

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Abstract

Backdraft is a complex phenomenon which occurs during cases of confined fires. It appears by a fast deflagration which occurs after the introduction of oxygen into a compartment filled with hot gases rich in unburned combustible vapor. Practically, this situation could occur at the time of intervention of firemen who break the door or when a window breaks under the action of thermal stresses. Based on a strong experimental campaign, the present paper aimed to make a quantitative investigation of the effect of confining on a totally closed fire. With this focus, fire tests were carried out in a completely closed room of dimensions 1.20 m × 1.20 m × 1.02 m, with five sources of fire of different heat release rates. The same fire sources were also tested in a free atmosphere in order to get reference data. After a statistical study of data, a comparative analysis between both results has been done. Its outcome is that confining has a major impact on the quality of combustion and on the fire duration. More precisely, it has been noticed comparatively to fire tests in free atmosphere that confining increases the fire duration by 14.85 percent while it decreases the heat release rate by 21.72 percent.

Highlights

Fidel Meskeoule Vondou,1,2 Claude Valery Ngayihi Abbe,1,2 Justin Tegawende Zaida,3 Philippe Onguene Mvogo,4 and Ruben Mouangue 1,4
Fire reaches its steady state; that is, at this moment all sizes which are involved progress in a constant way. e mass loss rate which represents the average quantity of fuel which burns per unit time is determined from the surface area of the fire source Af and the speed of consumption of the fuel w as shown by the following relation [31]: m_f ρfAfw, (1)
Plotting the confined test values in relation to the free test values allows quantifying the percentage of influence of HRR (W) Fire duration

Summary

Introduction

Fidel Meskeoule Vondou,1,2 Claude Valery Ngayihi Abbe ,1,2 Justin Tegawende Zaida,3 Philippe Onguene Mvogo,4 and Ruben Mouangue 1,4. It has been noticed comparatively to fire tests in free atmosphere that confining increases the fire duration by 14.85 percent while it decreases the heat release rate by 21.72 percent.

Results

Conclusion