Experimental study on fire spread behavior of single 110 kV cable under different layout conditions

Abstract

High-voltage cable fire accidents can cause large-scale power outages. In particular, the 110 kV large-section (diameter 10 cm) cable has complex cable structures. Therefore, based on the actual cable laying scenarios, three cable layout conditions are set, including the horizontal cable above horizontal floor structure (HCAHFS), the inclined cable above horizontal floor structure (ICAHFS), and the inclined cable above inclined floor structure (ICAIFS). The combustion behaviors and flame spread characteristics of 110 kV large-section cable are experimentally studied. It is found that the flame cannot spread on the surface of the flame-retardant outer sheath of the cable. However, when the cable-floor distance (lcf) is between 0.75 d and 2 d (d is the cable diameter) in HCAHFS, i.e. there is a floor under the cable that can catch cable melt, and the flame spread characteristics is different. After the cable is ignited, the cable fire can be divided into two parts, outer sheath flame and melt flame, and the cable fire can spread under the joint action of two flames. When lcf ≤ 0.75 d, the space under the cable is narrow. With the accumulation of melt on the floor, air entrainment is limited during cable combustion, resulting in the cable flame unsustainable. When lcf ≥ 2 d, the thermal radiation and convection from the melt and outer sheath flame to the cable preheat zone are weakened, resulting in cable flame extinction as well. In ICAHFS, the cable flame spread rate is first increased and then decreased with the increasing lcf at the fixed inclination angle; In ICAIFS, the upward spread rate of cable flame is faster than the downward spread rate at the fixed inclined angle. Moreover, the cable flame spread rate (FSR) in HCAHFS is the slowest compared to that in ICAIFS with different inclined angles. The preheating length for ICAIFS increases under both upper and lower ignition modes, while it is obviously at upper ignition, due to the melt flow. Finally, a correlation of FSR was proposed for various ignition positions and inclined angles. This study provides a reference for fire protection design and numerical simulation parameter setting of 110 kV cable fire.