Investigation of thermal equilibrium in a compartment involving crib fire

Abstract

Assessment of heat release rate in a compartment fires is a major concern for fire investigators to predict the fire behavior. The fire experiment was conducted in a cubical compartment of 64 m−3 with a door opening provided at one of the wall. Using the fundamental energy balance equation, an attempt has been made to determine the heat release rate for various interval of time. Instrumentations were made to measure several parameters which include the compartment gas temperature, the velocity and temperature of outgoing gas, heat flux to the compartment boundaries and the heat release rate of the burning crib. Analyzing the results, it was determined that major portion of the energy release during fire went to heat the compartment boundaries followed by energy loss through compartment door opening and energy goes to heat up the gases in the compartment. Nearly 54% of the energy went to heat compartment boundaries, 25% of the energy loss due to outflow of hot gases through door opening, 16% of energy went to heat the compartment gases and 5% of energy dissipated from the door in for of radiation.