In this study, the effects of fire source conditions on the vent flow velocity and hot gas layer characteristics in two rooms (ROOM-I and ROOM-II) connected by a vertical opening (VO-I) were investigated experimentally. In ROOM-II, the vertical opening (VO-II) connected to the outside was installed. The fire sources were located at the centers of ROOM-I and ROOM-II, and the heat release rates were 1.32, 3.32, and 5.21 kW. Regarding the vent flow velocity, when the fire source was located in ROOM-I, the outflow of the hot gas and inflow of cold air occurred in the upper and lower parts of VO-I and VO-II, respectively, which were the same as those of VO-II when the fire source was located in ROOM-II. However, when the fire source was located in ROOM-II, the hot gas in the upper part of VO-I flowed out to ROOM-I and flowed again into ROOM-II. Additionally, the hot gas layer thickness and temperature rise in the fire and adjacent rooms were compared. In the fire room, the case where the fire source was placed in ROOM-I showed a thicker hot gas layer and a higher hot gas layer temperature rise than the case where the fire source was placed in ROOM-II. In the adjacent room, the case where the fire source was placed in ROOM-I showed a thinner hot gas layer and a higher hot gas layer temperature rise than the case where the fire source was placed in ROOM-II. The dependence of the hot gas layer temperature rise on the heat release rate was higher than that of the hot gas layer thickness.
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