Measurements and models to characterise flame radiation from multi-scale kerosene fires

Abstract

A detailed understanding of flame radiation is useful in numerous fire applications, and can be improved through experiments and modelling: the work presented here is a contribution to both aspects. Data were gathered for kerosene pool fires (30–250 cm wide), in order to characterise the flame geometry and emission. It was shown that the average visible flame can be well approximated by a conical shape. Radiation of soot in the flame was described with an equivalent absorption coefficient and temperature. The results appear to be only weakly dependent on the fire size, which is a valuable information for upscaling approaches. Experimental data were used to compute heat fluxes received by targets outside the flame with four models, based on different assumptions regarding radiation absorption in the flame. Numerical results were compared to experimental ones in order to assess the various approaches and determine their applicability domain. The two most detailed models give good results for all fire sizes, thus showing that the key parameters of flame radiation have been identified and taken into account. The simplified models are less satisfactory, and seem to be applicable only in specific conditions which are rarely met in the case of fires.