Quantification of cross-wind effect on temperature elevation in the downwind region of fire sources

Abstract

The effect of cross-wind on the temperature elevation in the downwind region of square diffusion burners was investigated in wind tunnel experiments. The experimental parameters were the side length of the square diffusion burner (0.4–1.2 m), the heat release rate (38.3–345 kW), and the inflow velocity of the cross-wind (0.59–1.49 m/s). To describe the transition of the half-width of the cross section, the temperature elevation, and the velocity of fire plumes along the trajectory, a similarity model was derived by dimensional analysis. This model is equivalent to that in a quiescent environment, with the cross-wind effect embodied in the distance along the trajectory. Therefore, the derived model reasonably correlated the half-width of the cross section with the temperature elevation. It also obtained the measured temperature elevation at ground level (0.02 m above the floor) downwind of the fire sources. In this evaluation, the correlation between the measured and computed data points was improved by introducing a virtual source that considered both the fire source size and the cross-wind velocity effects.