Effects of Ambient Pressure on Burning Characteristics of Gasoline: A Pilot Study

Pengcheng Qin, Mingnian Wang, Zhanwen Chen, Guanfeng Yan, Tao Yan, Changling Han and Anmin Wang
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Pengcheng Qin: School of Civil Engineering, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu 610031, China
Mingnian Wang: School of Civil Engineering, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu 610031, China
Zhanwen Chen: School of Civil Engineering, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu 610031, China
Guanfeng Yan: School of Civil Engineering, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu 610031, China
Tao Yan: School of Civil Engineering, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu 610031, China
Changling Han: China Communications Construction First Highway Consultants Co., Ltd., Xi’an 710075, China
Anmin Wang: Yunnan Institute of Transportation Planning and Design Co., Ltd., Kunming 650011, China

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 15, 1-12

Abstract: A fire can pose a significant threat to a building’s occupants and leads to property damage. The burning characteristics usually determine the severity of the accident. Environments in high-altitude areas feature low oxygen content and ambient pressure, which can influence the burning characteristics of combustibles. In this paper, a series of field experiments were conducted to investigate the burning characteristics of gasoline at different altitudes considering heat release rate (HRR), flame height, and smoke release rate. Results show that the combustion process can be divided into three stages: initial stage, stable stage, and attenuation stage. Lower oxygen content and ambient pressure reduce the HRR; for example, the HRR at an altitude of 4150 m is nearly half at an altitude of 500 m, contributing to a lower smoke release rate. The HRR is proportional to 1.3 power of atmospheric pressure, and a fitting equation was brought out in this paper. Flame height increases with the increase in altitude due to the demand for more oxygen during the combustion process since the oxygen content is low in high-altitude areas.

Keywords: burning characteristics; heat release rate; high-altitude area; field experiment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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