Compartment Fire Research Articles

Comparative Study on the Characteristics of Compartment Fire and Travelling Fire for Large-Space Fire Analysis

Fire models typically include standard and parametric types. These models assume that the gases produced by the fire within the compartment are fully mixed, resulting in a uniform temperature distribution. However, in real fires, significant non-uniformity is observed, and some large-compartment fires exhibit localized combustion and move across the floor of the burning room over time. This scenario is known as a “travelling fire”. In this study, the characteristics of the traditional compartment and travelling fires were compared. Combustion experiments were conducted in a medium-sized compartment with a single opening using heptane pools. Throughout these experiments, the heat-release rate and temperature changes were measured to analyze the simultaneous and delayed ignition of the flames. The experimental results showed an approximately 19% difference in the maximum heat-release rate and 50% difference in the time required to reach it. Consequently, the temperature changes within the internal compartment were also delayed and reduced.

Levels of Effectiveness of Water Curtain Equipment Applied When Mitigating Fire Compartment Installation of Logistics Facilities

Mock-up tests and fire simulations were performed to verify the effectiveness of water curtain equipment in mitigating fire compartment installation of logistics facilities. The radiant-heat-blocking effect of the water curtain equipment differed significantly based on the type of drencher head, and a blocking effect was observed. Additionally, the radiant temperature and heat flux were significantly reduced when the installation intervals of the drencher heads of the water curtain equipment were reduced. Therefore, improving the standards related to the water curtain equipment of logistics facilities, e.g., providing drencher head specifications, restricting the sizes of the openings, and narrowing the installation intervals of the drencher heads, is necessary to ensure the fire safety of water curtain equipment.

CFD-based analysis of deviations between thermocouple measurements and local gas temperatures during the cooling phase of compartment fires

Data from thermocouple (TC) measurements play a pivotal role in fire safety science and engineering studies. It is well-known that there are deviations from the actual local gas temperature and many studies have led to the development of correction factors. The present study focuses on these deviations inside compartments through a systematic series of CFD simulations, performed with Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS), version 6.8.0. A canonical cubic box is used as geometry. This allows for the demonstration of the impact of the presence of smoke, with variable optical thickness, on the TC data as retrieved from FDS. Significant differences are observed between TC measurements and local gas temperatures. Corrections as developed for TC measurements in open atmospheres cannot be readily applied in compartment configurations, where smoke properties change both spatially and temporally.

Effects of fuel distribution on thermal environment and fire hazard

AbstractFire accidents in buildings are occurring and claiming thousands of lives each year. Due to various architectural designs, fire hazards would be unique to each building layout. This paper discusses how fire hazard varies with the arrangement of the fuel inside buildings. To comprehensively present the effect of fuel distribution on fire behaviour, results from large‐scale experiments, bench‐scale experiments, empirical correlations, and numerical studies are provided. In large‐scale fire tests, two different cases of wood cribs were tested to demonstrate the effects of porosity on heat generation and fire spread behaviour. Due to the limitations of experimental conditions, the variation in heat release rate attributable to differences in fuel porosity and surface area has been also qualitatively investigated using a cone calorimeter test. To bring the gap between experimental observations and real‐word scenarios, a numerical study is also performed. This study further explores the effects of fuel distribution (considering porosity and surface area of fuel throughout the compartment) and ventilation on fire spread beyond the fire compartment. The computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations show how the distribution of fuel in different ways can lead fire to spread beyond its origin, as observed in many fire accidents. The paper suggests that designers should consider such critical fire scenarios in performance‐based design.

Prediction of flashover time in a compartment fire by CNN-LSTM based deep neural network considering wearable data collection equipment

Real-time prediction of flashover in a compartment fire is of great significance for rescue. This paper investigated a CNN-LSTM neural network to predict the flashover based on the temperature and radiative heat flux in 24 compartment fire cases simulated with FDS. Multiple conditions affecting compartment fires have been taken into account, like room size, room height, fire source location, opening size, number of vents, and fire load. Radiative heat flux meters and thermocouples were positioned at specific heights, to simulate sensors worn by firefighters entering a fire scene. The proposed model consisted of a convolutional layer and three LSTM layers. After training, the deep learning model effectively identified the flashover in compartment fires, with an average relative error of 4.1 % for temperature prediction and 11.2 % for radiative heat flux prediction. In addition, the model was validated on other simulated fire cases and full-scale experimental data, and the results showed good performance. In this paper, the sensitivity of the model to lead time was analyzed, and the application range of the model was determined. The model performed well within the lead time of 25s. In view of the strong performance of the proposed deep learning model in predicting flashover based on wearable sensors (temperature and radiative heat flux), it is believed that this model holds potential for application in a broader range of fire scenarios. This demonstrates the feasibility of using deep learning artificial intelligence models to predict compartment fire development, providing scientific guidance for smart firefighting technology.

Early warning signals of flashover in compartment fires

There have been efforts to predict the occurrence of flashover. Due to its sudden development and the difficulty in discerning warning signs during the induction phase, the approach to flashover prediction is still under investigation. This research tests a new approach for detecting flashover events within a compartment through single-signal processing of the heat release rate (HRR). A set of ordinary differential equations aligned with a two-zone model are formulated and transformed into stochastic differential equations, subsequently solved through a numerical method. Based on the noisy HRR readings, a dynamical marker is constructed as a product of two quantities: the smoothed HRR and the standard deviation of the noise component. The dynamical marker was found to increase prior to a rise in the HRR signal on its own, confirming its superiority as a sign of flashover detection. To assess the practical applicability of the dynamical marker, we computed it to detect flashover incidents using HRR obtained from an FDS simulation and the fire calorimetry database provided by NIST; the dynamical marker exhibited a significant rise before the transition to flashover, confirming its potential as an early warning signal.

Study on the window spill fire plume trajectory of over-ventilated intermediate-scale compartment fires

The fire plume behavior of over-ventilated compartment fire is believed to be related with the façade fire. When the fire plume is reattached to the façade wall, the combustible materials over building wall are potential to be ignited soon. To investigate the window spill fire plume trajectory of over-ventilated intermediate-scale compartment fires, a modeling of fire plume trajectory is set up by using the energy conservation equation and spread theory. The temperature history of over-ventilated compartment fire is conducted by using a 1.35 m (L) × 1.35 m (H) × 1.35 m (W) compartment with window opening aspect varied from 1.12 to 4.44 and HRR differed from 200 kW to 1000 kW. The temperature of fire plume is recorded by the thermocouple mesh and the IR camera. It shows that the modelling theory could be used to predict the shape of fire plume. It agrees well with experimental result. The heat release rate of compartment fire is found to impact little influence on the shape of fire plume regarding a fixed opening dimension. It could provide a reasonable method for fire plume trajectory prediction of the intermediate-scale enclosure fire under an over-ventilated condition.

Investigation on the restrain effect of air curtain to the spilled flame and its heat flux of a compartment-facade fire

This paper investigates the restrain effect of air curtain to the spilled flame and its heat flux of a compartment-facade fire. A compartment model of 1.2 m × 0.9 m × 0.9 m is established in this study, and an air curtain is facilized at the compartment opening for fire protection. The air curtain jet velocity, the heat release rate as well as the opening dimension are changed as representative to typical fire scenarios. Flame behavior and heat flux profile of spill plume are captured by CCD cameras and water-cooled heat flux gauge for discussion. Results show that the air curtain jet could have a substantial impact on the flame behavior of spilled plumes from a compartment-facade fire. Compared to that of free condition without air curtain, the flame height becomes 20 % lower as the jet velocity to be 2 m/s, while it becomes 60 % lower as the jet velocity to be 5 m/s. At the meantime, the spilled plume is noticeably influenced by the “restricting effect” of the air curtain and thus flame trajectory is significantly flattened by the inertia force of the air curtain but also pushed farther from the facade wall, resulting in an increasing of flame depth. The decreasing in flame height plus the increasing flame depth would result in the reduction of heat flux intensity upon the facade wall, which is helpful for the fire protection of the facade wall. Then, a normalized factor of Υ is further proposed to the new correlation of flame height under various air curtain jet conditions at the opening. Regarding to different ejected flame behavior at the presence of air curtain jet, the heat flux upon the facade wall is quantitative analyzed to evaluate the thermal impact of spilled plume from the compartment fire. Finally, new correlations of the vertical heat flux upon the facade wall could be well achieved by a function of normalized height factor Z/Zf, v.

Temperature evolution and flame behavior inside a ceiling-vented compartment with different fire source locations under the effect of wind

This work presents an experimental investigation on ceiling-vented compartment fire behavior and thermal characteristics with different fire source locations under the effect of wind associated by CFD simulations. Experiments were carried out under the ambient wind condition, and the fire source was respectively set at windward side, center and leeward side. Results show that: (1) In no-wind cases, a critical heat release rate is found at which the inside temperature decreases with the increasing of fire heat release rate indicating flame flows outside. The critical HRR for fire source attached to sidewall is slightly larger than that when the fire source is located at compartment center, and it increases as vent dimension increases. (2) In ambient wind condition, there is a travelling process that the flame transfers from windward side to leeward side with the increasing of fire HRR. The critical HRR for the transition increases as vent size increases, and decreases as wind speed increases, and is basically independent of fire source location, which is proved to be related to air inflow rate. A Froude number is proposed to characterize the wind effect based on air inflow analysis, and the critical HRR for transition is represented well by the Froude number.

Facade flame depth coming out from the fire compartment opening subject the external sideward wind

When a fuel leakage/energy release (i.e., combustion, fire) inside a compartment, the external facade flame characteristics through opening are of great significance for protecting human life and property, as well as assessment of its risk and impact to urban environment. This work investigates facade flame depth coming out from fire compartment opening with fuel combustion/energy release inside the compartment for under-ventilated condition under sideward wind, which is a fundamental parameter in describing facade morphological characteristics in particular building fire, meanwhile still no work can be found in previous studies. Results show that, as sideward wind speed increases, the flame depth first increases a bit then decreases significantly. A CFD simulation is carried out to understand flow field controlling facade flame depth under windless and sideward wind situations. A physical analysis is presented on account of mechanisms of complex interaction among sideward wind inertial, outflow momentum through opening, and flame buoyancy flux are proposed based on controlling mechanisms, which well represents the facade flame depth by a non-dimensional function under sideward wind condition. This study makes an important new contribution comparing with previous knowledge, and has potential practical value for fuel combustion inside confined space and the corresponding numerical model verification.

Simulation Study on Temperature Control Performance of Lithium-Ion Battery Fires by Fine Water Mist in Energy Storage Stations.

The combustion of lithium-ion batteries is characterized by fast ignition, prolonged duration, high combustion temperature, release of significant energy, and generation of a large number of toxic gases. Fine water mist has characteristics such as a high fire extinguishing efficiency and environmental friendliness. In order to thoroughly investigate the temperature control effect of fine water mist on lithium-ion battery fires. This study employs numerical simulation methods, utilizing PyroSim software to simulate the fire process in lithium-ion battery energy storage compartments. First, we focus on the variation patterns of flame, changes in combustion temperature, and heat release rate over time at environmental temperatures of 10, 25, and 35 °C. Subsequently, the suppression of flame, reduction in temperature, and changes in heat release rate are simulated for water mist in lithium-ion battery fires. The simulation results indicate that the environmental temperature has a considerable impact on the flame but a lesser effect on the heat release rate. Fine water mist effectively impedes the spread of thermal runaway between internal battery core cells, leading to a reduction in the flame size and a significant decrease in the maximum temperature and heat release rate. The numerical simulation results can provide scientific guidance for the prevention and control of fires in lithium-ion battery energy storage compartments.

Experimental investigation on thermal radiation of compartment fire under fuel-controlled condition

Due to the serious adverse thermal impact on adjacent rooms and buildings, compartment fire is one of the very important topics in fire research. While for the thermal radiation of compartment fire, there are few related studies with a lack of thermal radiation models. This article experimentally studied the evolutions of radiation heat flux of compartment fire under fuel-controlled condition. Experiments were carried out employing a reduced-scale compartment with a wall opening whose size can be adjusted. The radiant heat flux (RHF) from compartment fire received by target object was measured and analyzed for various opening sizes, fuel supply rates, horizontal distances and vertical heights, and a total of 180 test data were considered. Results showed that with the increasing horizontal distance between the target object and the compartment opening, the RHF decreased rapidly at first and then decreased gradually. The view factor of the opening toward the target object was analyzed, which was related to the opening size, the horizontal distance and vertical height. The view factor exhibited an evolution pattern of the first rapidly decreasing and then slowly decreasing with horizontal distance, which was similar to the RHF received by the target object. Then, based on the view factor, the radiation model related to the opening dimension and temperature inside compartment was proposed to calculate RHF received by target object, which was proved to be in good consistency with experimental data.

The critical discontinuity of vertical temperature distribution along window opening height from intermediate-scale compartment fire

The fire plume spilled from a window is believed to be one of the main fire sources with respect to a building façade fire, which happened previously in China. To have a deep understanding of vertical temperature distribution at window opening is of significance. In the current contribution, a series of compartment fire tests under over-ventilation were conducted with a 1.35 m × 1.35 m × 1.35 m compartment to clarify the critical discontinuity position (HD) by varying window opening sizes, opening aspect and heat release rate (HRR). Temperature history at the window openings were recorded by a thermocouple net. A theoretical calculation method of HD is detailed according to the compartment configuration. It is found that the critical discontinuity area is observed apparently along the window opening height, which has a big temperature difference. By the comparison of experimental and theoretical results, the constant comprehensive coefficient of 1.68, 1.92 and 3.85 of 300 kW, 600 kW and 900 kW are got for an engineered empirical prediction model are proposed, respectively. It provides an insight for the understanding of critical temperature discontinuity and reference for engineering calculations.

Understanding Compartmentation Failure for High-Rise Timber Buildings

The traditional concept of compartmentation guaranteed by fire resistance is mainly concerned with the problem of destructive internal spread potential. External convective spread potential pertains to the loss of compartmentation associated with windows and facade systems. As such, it is assumed that internal fire spread occurs following mechanisms of excessive heat conduction and/or successive failure of the compartment boundaries, which can be, in most cases, conservatively characterised using traditional methods of performance assessment such as fire resistance. Nevertheless, external fire spread represents a potentially more effective route by which fire can spread through the convective advancement of flames and hot gases. This is particularly important in cases such as timber construction, where the presence of exposed timber can result in increased convective spread potential and where loss of compartmentation can result in disproportionate consequences. A simplified compartment fire model is proposed with the objective of quantifying the fuel contribution of exposed timber elements to the compartment fire and determining the impact of variable percentages of exposed timber on the convective spread potential. The overall results show that the convective fire spread potential increases with the increasing percentage of available timber.

Containment and suppression of compartment fires using specialized liquid compositions

Experimental research findings are reported on the characteristics of physicochemical processes at different stages of fire development and suppression. Fires involving solid materials like wood, cardboard and linoleum were investigated. The minimum necessary and sufficient volumes of firefighting liquid (water with different additives, e.g., a foaming agent, bentonite, bischofite, etc.) and their spraying times were identified. Differences in spraying characteristics (droplet velocities, sizes and concentration) were recorded. A relationship between the spraying characteristics of fire extinguishing agents and efficiency of fire suppression was established. Correlations were identified between the operational characteristics of fire detectors during fire suppression involving several fire extinguishing agents. The most efficient compositions in terms of fire suppression time and extinguishing agent consumption were found for typical indoor combustible materials. Mathematical equations were derived to predict the key characteristics of fire suppression.

Experimental study of opening location affecting the delay time of backdraft

Backdraft is a special phenomenon in fire research because of its explosive consequence and the occurrence of uncertainty. The delay time of occurrence has been of interest in recent years as this influences the safety and efficiency of firefighting. This paper investigated the location of the opening and whether it affects the delay time of the backdraft. Results show that the location of the opening dramatically dominates the delay time. The hot/cold air mixing path and instantaneous localized fire ignitions determine the delay time. A ‘curtain-like’ effect for the backdraft time delay was observed. The lower opening demonstrates about 50–70 % delay time compared to the upper and middle locations. In the presence of identical fire conditions and door closure control, the extended flammable gas dilution resulting from the upper opening does not significantly impact the onset of backdraft. Hence, the effective volume above the ignition location determines the delay time of the backdraft. Furthermore, the choice of chamber material is a crucial factor influencing the likelihood of backdraft occurrence. Utilizing a material with enhanced cooling capacity reduces the probability of backdraft. This provides insight into the firefighting and intervention tactics when ventilation-restricted compartment fire occurs.

Thermal decomposition and combustion of interior design materials

Research findings on the patterns of thermal decomposition and combustion are reported for widely used interior design materials. The experiments were conducted using a hardware and software system including a thermogravimetric analyzer (to record the characteristics of thermal decomposition), a gas analyzer (with H2, CH4, H2S, SO2, CO and CO2 sensors) and a high-speed camera (to record the characteristics of ignition and combustion). The temperature of the oxidizing medium ranged from 500 to 900°C to investigate the conditions of thermal decomposition initiation and sustained combustion. It was established that the highest concentrations of toxic emissions were typical of the combustion of polypropylene at a maximum temperature of the oxidizing medium (900°C). Wood showed the shortest ignition delay time and the longest duration of combustion. The experimental data were used for a physical problem statement and mathematical model of heat and mass transfer to explore the thermal decomposition and combustion of interior design materials in different rooms. A comparison of the experimental findings with the mathematical modeling results validates the developed model. The growth rates of carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide concentrations were determined for construction (wooden) and interior design (polymer) materials. The maximum concentrations of CO and CO2, and the minimum times taken to reach their threshold values corresponded to wood and polyvinyl chloride panels. This research provides a deeper insight into the thermal decomposition of a wide range of fuels and the formation of gaseous pyrolysis products of these fuels. The results obtained can be used to evaluate the toxicity of construction and interior design materials during compartment fires as well as to estimate the safe egress time and risks involved in the process. They can also serve as a database for the development and testing of mathematical models describing fire outbreaks and propagation in confined spaces.

Flame extension length and temperature profile beneath ceiling induced by endwall-attached fire inside compartment with lateral openings

This study experimentally investigated the fire characteristics of endwall-attached fire within the long-narrow compartment, including the flame extension and temperature profile. Experiments were conducted in a reduced scaled compartment featuring multiple lateral openings. Results show that the previous models of flame extension length and temperature rise in the literatures, whether for sidewall fires in tunnels or central fires in compartments with lateral openings, cannot predict the experimental data in this study. A new correlation is proposed for the flame extension length based on non-dimensional heat release rate. The longitudinal temperature profile generated by endwall-attached fires in compartment can be classified into three distinct regions related to the position of the lateral opening: temperature rapid decrease region, temperature slow decrease region, and backflow region at the end of the compartment. A model for the maximum temperature rise and a piecewise equation based on single exponential function for temperature decay profile are proposed, and these equations effectively correlate the experimental data. The findings of this study can deepen the understanding of fire dynamics within similar building structures and have value for the fire hazard assessment.

Investigation of flashover occurrence criterion based on thermal equilibrium theory

Flashover is the rapid transition to a state of total surface involvement in a fire of combustible material within an enclosure fire, which is the most serious and fatal event in building fires. Although previous studies have provided quantitative and qualitative standards for flashover, the criteria of flashover were normally based on the independent measurement of experimental parameters and phenomena rather than the underlying physical reasons, resulting in a lack of mutual relationships between these criteria and the inability to reflect physical mechanisms. Moreover, the flashover criteria vary for different compartment fire fuels, which directly affects the calculation of compartment fire theory. This work was performed to provide a unified principle on the criteria of flashover based on the thermal equilibrium theory. The critical conditions for flashover are quantitatively developed by establishing a partial differential equation for the energy generation rate and energy loss rate with respect to the temperature inside the compartment. Moreover, based on the partial differential equation, inequalities were established for the relationship between the temperature of the hot gas and the heat flux of the floor at the onset of flashover, which was validated by the compartment experiment data. It was found that due to differences in emissivity and net heat transfer rate, at the onset of flashover, the hot gas temperature and the radiation heat flux at the floor were different for different fuels, and a high hot gas temperature does not necessarily indicate a high radiation heat flux at the floor.

Experimental investigation on morphology of window-ejected flame without facade effect

As the key characteristic of window-ejected flames, flame morphology such as flame height, flame depth involves the ignition of surrounding buildings. This article experimentally investigated the flame height, the maximum flame width and the maximum flame depth ejected from a fire compartment without the facade wall effect. A small-scale compartment with a sidewall opening attached to compartment top is used for simulating the situation without the facade wall. The ejected flame height, maximum flame width and maximum flame depth were recorded and measured for various opening sizes and fuel supply rates. Results show that: (1) The ejected flame height increases as the increase of fuel supply rate and decreases as the increase of opening dimension, and was obviously lower than that with the facade effect; (2) The maximum flame width increases as the increase of fuel supply rate and decreases with the increase of opening dimension, and was higher than that with the facade effect; (3) The maximum flame depth increases as the increase of fuel supply rate, and the formation of maximum flame depth was analyzed based on the ejected thermal plume momentum and the air entrainment momentum. A dimensionless parameter, which presents the complex competition mechanism between the plume momentum and the air entrainment momentum, was proposed to characterize their impacts on flame depth, by which the maximum flame depth was represented well. This work would provide theoretical support for building fire prevention and control.