Numerical analysis to determine fire suppression time for multiple water mist nozzles in a large fire test compartment

Abstract

In this study, a numerical sensitivity analysis was performed to determine the fire suppression time for a large number of water mist nozzles in a large fire compartment. Fire simulations were performed using FDS (Fire dynamics simulator) 6.5.2 under the same condition as the test scenario 5 of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) 1165 test protocol. The sensitivities of input parameters including cell size, extinguishing coefficient (EC), droplets per second (DPS), and peak heat release rate (HRR) of fuel were investigated in terms of the normalized HRR and temperature distribution in the compartment. A new method of determining the fire suppression time using FDS simulation was developed, based on the concept of the cut-off time by cut-off value (COV) of the heat release rate per unit volume (HRRPUV) and the cooling time by the HRR cooling time criteria value (CTCV). In addition, a method was developed to determine the average EC value for the simulation input, using the cooling time and cut-off time.