New approach to estimate temperatures in pre-flashover fires: Lumped heat case

Abstract

This paper presents a model for estimating temperatures in pre-flashover fires where the fire enclosure boundaries are assumed to have lumped heat capacity. That is, thermal inertia is concentrated to one layer with uniform temperature and insulating materials are considered purely by their heat transfer resistance. The model yields a good understanding of the heat balance in a fire enclosure and was used to predict temperatures in insulated and non-insulated steel-bounded enclosures. Comparisons were made with full scale experiments and with other predictive methods, including CFD modeling with FDS and the so called MQH relationship. Input parameter values to the model were then taken from well-known literature and the heat release rates were provided from the experiments. The fire temperature predictions of the model matched very well with experimental data. So did the FDS predictions while the original MQH relationship gave unrealistic results for the problems studied. Major benefits of using the model in comparison with CFD modeling are its readiness and simplicity as well as the negligible computation times needed. An Excel application of the presented pre-flashover fire model is available on request from the author.