Enclosure Fires Research Articles

Full-scale experimental study on suppressing lithium-ion battery pack fires from electric vehicles

Electric vehicle (EV) fires resulting from the thermal instability of high-energy lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) have become a significant hazard to public safety. Effective and prompt fire-fighting methods for dealing with EV fires are required. A fire protection method referred to as electric vehicle fire enclosure (EVFE) was proposed in this paper based on EV fire characteristics. Full-scale fire experiments were employed to evaluate the fire extinguishing efficiency of various types of EVFE. Results showed that EVFE could effectively suppress the thermal runaway (TR) of full-size LIB packs in the EVs under these experimental conditions, and the battery packs did not occur re-thermal runaway after EVFE stopped working. The agent consumption of water EVFE was 0.628 m3/kWh, while that of foam EVFE was 0.743 m3/kWh. Moreover, the overheated battery packs had an interesting TR propagation mechanism that TR discretely spread among the cells. The TR critical temperature of unconnected battery modules was not suitable for illustrating the TR characteristics of circuit-connection battery modules. For the full-size LIB packs, the TR onset temperature ranged from 31.8 °C to 117.3 °C. These results provide an insight into the fire protection methods and TR characteristics of the LIB packs in EVs.

Enhancing the phi-meter by incorporating carbon dioxide measurement

This paper describes the development, calibration and experimental application of an enhanced equivalence ratio measurement apparatus, or ‘phi-meter’. The original phi-meter developed by Babrauskas et al. used only an oxygen analyser and chemically removed the CO2. In this study, an enhanced phi-meter was developed to measure the equivalence ratio from experimental enclosure fires by O2 and CO2 measurements. As with all combustion calorimetry, the accuracy of the results increases with the number of species being directly measured and removing the need for chemical removal of the CO2 is an advantage. This is of practical importance as scrubbing agent required to remove CO2 from the combustion products requires careful handling and increases test costs. Moreover, in severely under-ventilated conditions, the production of CO significantly increases, and its measurement by phi-meter provides real-time validation of the occurrence of complete combustion within the phi furnace. The original equations derived for the phi-meter incorporated the depletion of oxygen, whereas the phi-meter equations developed in this paper incorporate O2 and CO2 measurements. The equivalence ratios measured in compartment fires for heptane, LPG and timber crib fuels ranging from 0.2 for oxygen-rich to 3.0 for fuel-rich conditions are found to agree with theoretical values.

Bezbednost vatrogasaca-spasilaca tokom treninga u flešover kontejneru - numerička studija

Extinguishing of fire is a responsible and risky job that requires knowledge, skill and mental stability from the firefighter. These facts especially refer to the localization and extinguishing of enclosure fires where the occurrence of flaming attacks, such as flashover and backdraft are possible. In such conditions, lack of experience of firefighters often leads to fatal injuries. In order to reduce the injuries of firefighters during firefighting interventions, their training in flashover containers has recently begun. Practical training provides the necessary experience that is applied in real fire extinguishing interventions which implies that firefighters are exposed to high fire temperatures during training. Because of this, the paper focuses on modeling and simulation of flashover appearance in a container for firefighters' training, performed by using numerical fluid dynamics method. Using the Fire Dynamics Simulator software package, seven fire scenarios under different ventilation conditions and fire extinguishing methods were analyzed, with the aim of examining container temperatures that affect the safety of firefighters during the training. The obtained results indicate that the most acceptable scenario for firefighter training means that the container door is open for the entire duration of the training and, at the same time, it neccessary to periodically extinguish fire with a water jet, along with occasionally opening of the roof vent of the container.

Practical skills training in enclosure fires: An experimental study with cadets and firefighters using CAVE and HMD-based virtual training simulators

Training in enclosure fires is essential because it is one of the most dangerous tasks for firefighters. The training simulators should consider the specificity of the tasks performed to achieve the best training outcomes. Additionally, the end-users may not accept even the best technical solutions. Due to the availability of many different interfaces and methods (e.g., for image presentation), end-users' opinions are essential in choosing the best possible technologies. In this research, the aim is to create and compare two realistic virtual training systems for fighting enclosure fires, CAVE (Cave Automated Virtual Environment) with projectors and VR (Virtual Reality) with HMD (Head Mounted Display). Both focused on nozzle person training to fill the gap between theoretical training and real-life training with fires (e.g., drills with class A fuels). Efforts were made to minimize the disadvantages of training simulators while maintaining high simulation realism and low simulator cost. The study was conducted with the participation of 67 cadets and seven active firefighters. The method of reducing the limitations of VR training simulators while maintaining relatively low costs is discussed. The simulator enables multisensory experience with passive haptic and multi-user interaction considering the sense of touch. The VR simulator was rated better than the CAVE simulator, but both were accepted and rated as very useful. The paper also discusses the issues of simulation sickness symptoms, simulation realism (spatial presence), usability, acceptance of technology, and stress associated with using a training simulator.

Numerical modelling of fire test with timber fire protection

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to present a complex pyrolysis computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model of timber protection exposed to fire in a medium size enclosure. An emphasis is placed on rarely used temperature-dependent thermal material properties effecting the overall simulation outputs. Using the input dataset, a fire test model with oriented strand boards (OSB) in the room corner test facility is created in Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS).Design/methodology/approachSeven FDS models comprising different complexity approaches to modelling the burning of wood-based materials, from a simplified model of burning based on a prescribed heat release rate to complex pyrolysis models which can describe the fire spread, are presented. The models are validated by the experimental data measured during a fire test of OSB in the room corner test facility.FindingsThe use of complex pyrolysis approach is recommended in real-scale enclosure fire scenarios with timber as a supplementary heat source. However, extra attention should be paid to burning material thermal properties implementation. A commonly used constant specific heat capacity and thermal conductivity provided poor agreement with experimental data. When the fire spread is expected, simplified model results should be processed with great care and the user should be aware of possible significant errors.Originality/valueThis paper brings an innovative and rarely used complex pyrolysis CFD model approach to predict the behaviour of timber protection exposed to fire. A study on different temperature-dependent thermal material properties combined with multi-step pyrolysis in the room corner test scenario has not been sufficiently published and validated yet.

Multiphase CFD modelling for enclosure fires—A review on past studies and future perspectives

Multiphase CFD modelling for enclosure fires—A review on past studies and future perspectives

Visualization study on the effect of ambient wind on smoke layer height in chamber fires under natural smoke exhaust condition

Ambient wind often affects the smoke movement and natural smoke exhaust performance in enclosure fires. In this study, six wind speeds and twelve kinds of vent combinations are designed. 72 groups of experiments are conducted to investigate the coupling effects of vent combination and ambient wind speed during quasi-steady state of natural smoke extraction in chamber fires. Compared to the traditional Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) method, a novel particle image flow field visualization (PIFFV) technique is proposed, and a smoke recognition algorithm for the determination of smoke layer height is developed based on two-dimensional OTSU method. Experimental results show that using the PIFFV method and the proposed algorithm, smoke layer height can be determined more accurately, in comparison to the N-percentage method. When the height of outlet is higher than that of inlet, the worst smoke control effect is found. When the air inlet is located on the windward side, the effect of natural smoke extraction is better under a reasonable wind speed than that in a windless condition. However, when the height of outlet is lower than that of the windward inlet, the optimal smoke control effect is achieved without ambient wind. In addition, when the inlet is arranged on the sideward side, ambient wind has a limited influence on smoke layer height with a lower outlet. Results of this study can provide references for the design of smoke control and ventilation system in room fires.

A comparative study of statistical methods for critical parameters at tempered glass fallout in an enclosure fire

Tempered glass is substituting float glass and extensively employed in glass façades and some structural members. However, previous studies primarily focus on float glazing, little is known about the statistical characteristics of tempered glazing fallout in a compartment fire. In particular, the correlation between critical parameters and fallout time of tempered glass is still unknown. Based on the previous experimental data in open literature of 11 tempered glass panels in a compartment model, a comparative analysis was performed to optimize the statistical methods of the breakage behaviour for tempered glazing. The parameters from the previous Wang et al.’s research, such as tempered glass fallout time, the temperature at the center of tempered glass surface, the temperature at the edge of tempered glass surface, the temperature difference between fire exposed and frame covered areas, and total heat flux at tempered glass fallout, were analyzed by 7 different statistical functions, including the Normal, Lognormal, 2-parameter Weibull, 3-parameter Weibull, Exponential, Gamma and Logistic distributions. The results suggested that the most appropriate distributions for tempered glass fallout time, the temperature at the center of tempered glass surface, the temperature at the edge of tempered glass surface, the temperature difference between fire exposed and frame covered areas, and total heat flux at tempered glass fallout are respectively Lognormal, 3-parameter Weibull, 2-parameter Weibull, 3-parameter Weibull, and 3-parameter Weibull distributions. Overall, the 3-parameter Weibull distribution is more suitable for the statistical analysis of fallout behavior of tempered glazing in fires. For critical parameters of tempered glass fallout, the 50th percentile is close to the most probable percentile. To avoid the fallout of 6 mm thick tempered glazing, the temperature difference between fire exposed and frame covered areas as well as heat flux should be controlled under 319 °C and 38.5 kW/m2. From the correlation analysis between fallout time and each critical parameter, it was established that the surface temperature may give more reliable prediction than total heat flux for tempered glass fallout.

Mechanisms of flame spread and burnout in large enclosure fires

Knowledge of the first principles defining fire behaviour in large enclosures remains limited despite their common use in modern tall buildings. The evolution of a fire in large enclosures can be defined by the relationship between the flame front and burnout velocities (VS/VBO). This relationship can be classified into three distinct fire spread modes being Mode 1 (VS/VBO → ∞), Mode 2 (VS/VBO > 1), and Mode 3 (VS/VBO ≈ 1). The mechanisms governing flame spread and burnout are investigated using four full-scale enclosure fire experiments with high porosity wood cribs with similar enclosure geometries. Flame and burnout front positions and velocities are estimated using video data. Velocities are affected by the heat feedback from the enclosure and smoke layer to the fuel. The spread velocity shows two regimes, a minimum external heat flux above which there is surface spread (q˙s,min″) and a heat flux that defines the onset of very rapid flame spread (q˙rs,crit″). A phenomenological model is developed to help identify the underlying mechanisms controlling the transition between the different spread modes. Both the model and data show that for wood cribs, the dependence of the burnout front velocity to the external radiation is weak, whereas the dependence of the flame spread velocity to the external and flame heat flux is strong. A transition from Mode 3 (VS/VBO ≈ 1) to Mode 2 (VS/VBO > 1) occurs with increasing external heat fluxes above q˙s,min″. The transition to Mode 1 (VS/VBO → ∞) is further defined once q˙rs,crit″ is attained due to a sudden increase in the flame heat flux by changing the ventilation condition, or by significant increases in the external heat flux from the enclosure.

Enclosure fire dynamics with a cross‐laminated timber ceiling

SummaryAn experimental study of the influence of an exposed combustible ceiling on compartment fire dynamics has been performed. The fire dynamics in compartments with combustible cross‐laminated timber ceilings vs non‐combustible reinforced concrete ceilings in otherwise identical compartments with three different ventilation factors were investigated. The experimental results are compared against predictions from two theoretical models for compartment fire dynamics: (a) the parametric fire model given in EN 1991‐1‐2, and (b) a model developed at Technische Universität Braunschweig, which are the parametric fire models currently used in Germany. It is confirmed that the introduction of a combustible timber ceiling leads to higher temperatures within the enclosure, both under fuel‐controlled and ventilation‐controlled scenarios. It is also demonstrated that the theoretical models considered in this article require refinement in order to adequately represent all relevant scenarios when combustible ceilings are present. A refinement of the German model, by adding the fuel from the combustible ceiling to the occupancy fuel load, was shown to not adequately capture the response for the ventilation‐controlled fires.

A Review of Modelling and Simulation Methods for Flashover Prediction in Confined Space Fires

Confined space fires are common emergencies in our society. Enclosure size, ventilation, or type and quantity of fuel involved are factors that determine the fire evolution in these situations. In some cases, favourable conditions may give rise to a flashover phenomenon. However, the difficulty of handling this complicated emergency through fire services can have fatal consequences for their staff. Therefore, there is a huge demand for new methods and technologies to tackle this life-threatening emergency. Modelling and simulation techniques have been adopted to conduct research due to the complexity of obtaining a real cases database related to this phenomenon. In this paper, a review of the literature related to the modelling and simulation of enclosure fires with respect to the flashover phenomenon is carried out. Furthermore, the related literature for comparing images from thermal cameras with computed images is reviewed. Finally, the suitability of artificial intelligence (AI) techniques for flashover prediction in enclosed spaces is also surveyed.

Towards a simplified fire dynamic simulator model to analyse fire spread between multiple informal settlement dwellings based on full‐scale experiments

SummaryThis paper develops a Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS) model to analyse fire spread for informal settlements, based upon full‐scale experiments. Informal settlements are frequently ravaged by fires, leaving thousands of people homeless, and with more than 1 billion people residing in informal settlements, there is a significant need to understand and improve the fire safety in such areas. Due to high levels of uncertainty inherent with input parameters regarding informal settlements, this work also investigates the sensitivity of fire behaviour to the input parameters used in numerical simulations. It is shown that spread times between two dwellings can vary from 1 minute after flashover to no spread at all, depending on the simulation input parameters selected. This paper highlights the importance of such input parameters when trying to model fire spread between dwellings. The simulations indicate that a simplified fire spread model for informal settlements is possible, especially for steel clad dwellings, however it showed that significant work is required for timber clad dwellings, that is, because the rate at which additional ventilation forms in the simulation for the timber clad dwellings is significantly slower than reality, which is as a result of the simplifications made. The simplification of using heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems to model leakages, resulting from the corrugated flutes, showed good enclosure fire dynamics behaviour compared to the experiments, but created new challenges with regards to the spread mechanism, since HVAC systems do not allow electromagnetic waves to penetrate in the same manner as an opening.

20 Dwelling Large-Scale Experiment of Fire Spread in Informal Settlements

Large-scale urban conflagrations in informal settlements are a frequent global event, however there is a lack of experimental research and knowledge within literature on how informal settlements fires spread to support local or national intervention strategies. This paper, therefore, presents results and analysis of a full-scale fire spread experiment of a mock 20 dwelling test settlement with a 4 by 5 layout aimed at understanding settlement-scale fire spread behaviour. A “fire line” scenario was created by simultaneously igniting four dwellings in a row, and then allowing the fire to propagate through the settlement to replicate fire disasters involving large numbers of homes. Results highlight the critical hazard posed by the close proximity of neighbouring dwellings (1–2 m), with wind playing a primary role in directing and driving the spread process. Even with a relatively mild wind speed of 15–25 km/h, the fire spread through the entire mock settlement within a mere 5 min. Following ignition of a given dwelling, flashover is reached very quickly, with the temperatures reaching more than 1000°C within 1 min, and downwind neighbour structures igniting less than a minute thereafter. The results suggest that multi-dwelling effects are not dominant in these types of fires, but may become meaningful at a larger scale when branding and topography play a role. Findings show that on a global scale fire behaviour is analogous to a wildfire with a continuous fire front moving through an area, although individual dwellings still do follow the distinct phases of enclosure fires, except that collapse occurs more rapidly than in formal structures. This experiment represents one of the larger urban fire tests conducted to date, and the largest informal settlement fire experiment.

Numerical simulation of thermal radiation influence on natural convection in a trapezoidal enclosure: Heat flow visualization through energy flux vectors

A theoretical and numerical study of natural convection in two-dimensional laminar incompressible flow in a trapezoidal enclosurein the presence of thermal radiation is conducted, motivated by energy systems applications. Heat flow visualization via the method of energy flux vectors (EFVs) is also included. The trapezoidal cavity has an inclined top wall which in addition to the bottom wall is maintained at constant temperature, whereas the remaining (vertical side) walls are adiabatic. The governing partial differential conservation equations are transformed using a vorticity-stream function formulation and non-dimensional variables and the resulting nonlinear boundary value problem is solved using a finite difference method with incremental time steps. EFVs provide abundant details of the heat flow at the core of the enclosure. The larger energy flux vectors indicate high temperature gradient zones and the sparse EFVs correspond to low temperature gradient zone. Heat flow distribution in the trapezoidal enclosure can be clearly elaborated via energy flux vectors and provides a deeper insight into thermal characteristics. A comprehensive parametric study is performed to evaluate the impact of Rayleigh number (buoyancy parameter) and radiation parameter on transport phenomena. The computations indicate that local Nusselt number and velocity are increasing functions of the Rayleigh number and radiation parameter. Significant changes in streamlines, temperature contours and energy streamlines for high Rayleigh number are observed. The energy flux vectors show that a large eddy is formed within the enclosure which migrates towards the cold wall. Greater thermal buoyancy force accelerates the primary flow whereas it decelerates the secondary flow. The simulations are relevant to solar collector systems, enclosure fire dynamics, electronic cooling and fuel cell systems. Furthermore, the computations furnish a good benchmark for more general computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis with commercial software e.g. ANSYS FLUENT.

Influence of heat tightness of an enclosure fire on ignition risk of unburnt gases in a connected exhaust system – An experimental study

An experimental study was performed from a reduced scale enclosure with a length/height and width of 2 m. A dodecane pan of 40 cm in diameter is placed at the center of the enclosure floor. An external ventilation system provides an air supply rate with an Air Change Per Hour (ACPH) ranging from 3 to 5. Influence of the intermediate levels of thermal insulation of enclosure on ignition risk in a connected exhaust system is experimentally evaluated. The results show that thermal insulation of an enclosure leads to faster fire growth, implying more important peak in heat release rate, and thus more dangerous fire in regards to the ignition risk. Heat tightness of enclosure enhances the mass loss rate of liquid fuel, but reduces the air supply rate from the admission duct due to decrease of the depression level in the compartment. As a consequence, the fire becomes quickly very-under-ventilated, and a large vaporized fuel is converted into the unburnt gases such as hydrocarbons, CO and H2. In the early stages of a fire, a hotter unburnt fuel layer with a concentration above the Lower Flammability Limit (LFL) is formed in the extraction duct connected to a mechanically ventilated enclosure fire. With a long time delay in a range of 16–21 min in the current study, the energy released per mass of oxygen consumed allows to raise the smoke temperature above 350 °C. Occurrence of flame extinction in vitiated air enclosure makes a sudden increase of the depression level inside enclosure due to cooling effects. This results in a sudden supply of fresh air from dilution duct, providing a sufficient amount of oxygen to trigger ignition of a fuel rich mixture near the extraction duct. It is found that ignition of unburnt volatiles at entrance of the extraction duct occurs more easily when the compartment is more heat-tight with a reduction by about 30% in the ignition delay.

Full-Scale Informal Settlement Dwelling Fire Experiments and Development of Numerical Models

While fire-related injuries and deaths decreased in the global north over the past few years, they have increased in the global south. With more than one billion people residing in informal settlements (sometimes known as slums, ghettos or shantytowns), it is necessary that greater effort be placed on addressing and developing means for improving fire safety in these areas. As a result of advances made in computer technologies, emerging performance-based regulations and an increase in building complexity in the global north, the use of computer models simulating enclosure fires have increased dramatically. In this work an experimental investigation is presented for (a) a full-scale corrugated steel sheeting clad informal dwelling experiment and (b) a full-scale timber clad informal dwelling experiment. The experimental results are then compared to numerical models consisting of both simple two-zone (OZone) and computational fluid dynamic models. Currently, there is negligible literature available on Fire Dynamic Simulator (FDS) modelling of informal settlement dwellings (sometimes known as shacks or shanties) fires. This paper evaluates the plausibility of using FDS v6.7 and zonal models to predict certain fire parameters (i.e. ceiling temperatures, heat fluxes, etc.) for Informal Settlement Dwellings (ISDs) and to study the plausibility of using FDS to estimate the probability of fire spread. In this paper an introduction to ISDs is given with details pertaining to construction materials and considerations needed for numerical modelling of informal dwellings (i.e. thin permeable boundaries or combustible boundaries). Models are based upon (a) a prescribed heat release rate per unit area in FDS using data obtained from a Fire Propagation Apparatus test, and (b) an empirical two-zone model using OZone. The FDS validation guide was used to quantify the model uncertainties in order to give a critical separation distance at which fire spread between dwellings will not occur. It was found that at 3 m spacing between ISDs there is a 6% chance (based on the model uncertainties) that fire spread can occur. This is an important finding that highlights the danger associated with these closely spaced dwellings and the hope is that it can guide local government and Non-Governmental Organizations in future decision making. Three meters spacing between dwellings, however, may not be possible due to the socio-cultural-political-economic issues associated with informal settlements. This is one of the first papers to demonstrate FDS models against full-scale ISD experiments.

Experimental and numerical studies of smoke dynamics in a compartment fire

Fires in confined spaces are of major concern in fire safety engineering. Indeed, fires with ensuing fatalities, generally occur in apartment or room fires. The decision and response time of rescue teams mainly results from empirical understanding. However, since compartment fires are multi-physical and multi-scale problems, a clear fundamental approach is needed. One of the main issues concerns the transition from localized to generalized fire. The most important vector leading to generalized fires is smoke. Indeed, smoke temperature is very high and many species i.e. burned and unburned gases are already or might mix. In this study, an experimental facility composed of a maritime container is set-up. It allows enclosure fires up to 1MW of power. This power is representative of moderate room fires. The global behavior of the smoke is investigated through the analysis of mean experimental temperature fields, smoke dynamics by large scale PIV as well as numerical simulations. For numerical simulations, the Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS) software is used. The experimental measurements are used to evaluate the validity of FDS in under-ventilated conditions. It is observed that FDS code is able to reproduce both temperature and velocity data of enclosure fires with accuracy depending on the power to volume ratio. A criterion capable to discriminate the ventilation status of confined fire is observed and discussed.

Performance of laminated glazing under fire conditions

Glass breakage and fallout may change the ventilation condition of compartment which would significantly accelerate the enclosure fire development. Past research of glass in fires has focused on single and insulated glazing, whereas the thermal performance of laminated glass remains less understood which is increasingly used in high-rise building façade systems. In this work, the experimental data has been used to validate the heat transfer and thermo-mechanical models performed by ABAQUS. The experiment refers to two laminated glass panels with 600 × 600 mm2 area and 12.38 mm thickness (6 mm glass + 0.38 mm polyvinyl butyral + 6 mm glass), which were heated to break by a 500 × 500 mm2 square pool fire. The heat transfer models were verified by the recorded surface temperature at the ambient glass panel. The breakage times of both panels were predicted through the stress distribution, showing relatively good agreement with experimental observations. After the models were validated, a parametric study of laminated glazing, including the thickness of gel layer and the number of glass layers were conducted to investigate the significance of these parameters to the fire resistance of laminated glazing. It was established that the 1.52 mm interlayer and 4-glass-panel laminated glazing demonstrate the best fire resistance. However, the 0.38 mm and 3-glass-panel ones are recommended considering the relatively low construction cost with reasonable fire performance. This numerical model is proved to be capable of predicting the thermal performance of laminated glazing in fire safety design of glass façades.

Numerical and Theoretical Evaluations of a Full-Scale Compartment Fire with an Externally Venting Flame

Understanding of the physics and mechanisms of externally venting flames from enclosure fires with parallel sidewalls at the opening is fundamental to investigating fire spread of U-shape building facade. This work aims to identify the impact of separation distance of sidewalls on facade flame height, heat flux and sustained internal combustion. A series of numerical simulations is conducted in a full-scale compartment with 3.6 m in length/width and 3.1 m in height. An external facade wall is measured 6 m in height and 3.6 m in width. A pyrolysis surface with an area of 3.2 × 3.2 m2 is placed in the middle of the enclosure with a theoretical heat lease rate varying from 1 to 8 MW. The semi-empirical correlations, derived from a reduced cubic enclosure, are evaluated for a full scale facade fire for identifying the flame height dependence on the separation distance of sidewalls. It is found that an enhanced buoyancy-induced flow between sidewalls leads to an increase of the flame height by a factor of 50% and a rise of the peak of radiation heat flux by a factor of 20% as compared to a flat facade fire. The height of externally venting flame is sensitively reduced by a factor of 40% to 50% with an increase of the normalized sidewalls distance by opening width up to 3. The predicted flame height is more pronounced with an increase of flame height by a factor of 40% for a full scale facade than for a small scale one due to turbulence development. The predicted internal HRR is in quantitative agreement with the one from the correlation for a global equivalence ratio below 3. The predicted temperatures are in good agreement with the experimental data except in the intermittent-like regions where an over-prediction of the temperature by a factor of 50% is found due to a reduction in accuracy of LES combustion model.

Unmanned aerial vehicle technology in the process of early fire localization of buildings

Abstract The paper is focused on the application of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) in the process of accurate and early source of fire localization during the firefighting operation inside buildings. UAVs in practice allow to use perspectives and insights that are not accessible to ground forces. The authors expect to provide an early localization of hidden center of enclosure fire using UAVs and compare how early detection of fire source could affect overall firefighting process. As a part of verification of this hypothesis a fire test was carried out in collaboration with fire department. Additionally, to the fire test, authors used numerical fire simulation of various scenarios according to experimental conditions. Results demonstrate the use of UAVs in terms of rescue forces and their overall contribution to safety related to firefighting and fire protection of buildings.