Ceiling thermal impingement spread characteristics induced by wall-attached fires under various sub-atmospheric pressures

Fei Tang, Peng Hu and Congling Shi

Energy, 2021, vol. 215, issue PB

Abstract: Ceiling thermal impingement fire spread induced by indoor uncontrollable energy combustion occurred frequently and caused many casualties and property damage. The sub-atmospheric pressure environment has a great impact on uncontrollable energy combustion characteristics of hazardous combustible gaseous fuel fire. China west high-altitude cities develop rapidly due to the economic development, and fire accidents frequently occur. This paper focused on experimentally studying the ceiling fire impingement hazard characteristics induced by wall-attached fires under sub-atmospheric pressures, the various sub-atmospheric pressures (from 55 kPa to 100 kPa), energy heat release rates (from 0.25 kW to 2.5 kW), and source-ceiling heights (0.475 m, 0.38 m, 0.285 m, 0.19 m and 0.095 m) were selected as an variable. The ceiling flame extension lengths of facing and lateral directions were measured and analyzed. Result showed that, the dimensionless ceiling flame extension area is higher in sub-atmospheric pressures. There are many differences between them due to the lower buoyancy in various sub-atmospheric pressures. By accounting for the air entrainment change characterization, it is found that the air entrainment of wall-attached propane jet fire is weaker in sub-atmospheric pressures. The influence of pressure on the flame expansion area is related to the 4/5 power of the ratio of the entrainment coefficient ((α/α100)4/5). And a new model was finally obtained to correlate ceiling flame extension area induced by wall-attached fires with various sub-atmospheric pressures. This work provides can help understand ceiling impingement flow and hazard characteristics under various sub-atmospheric pressures.

Keywords: Uncontrolled combustion of energy; Fire spread; Sub-atmospheric pressures; Wall-attached fires; Ceiling jet; Flame extension (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:energy:v:215:y:2021:i:pb:s0360544220322349

DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2020.119127

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