An experimental study of wall smoke pattern characteristics adjacent to fire source

Abstract

Confined fires within buildings pose significant risks to urban safety and the environment. Based on the interpretation and analysis of fire pattern, fire investigation is an important aspect for preventing fires and protecting lives and properties. Wall fire plume smoke pattern, as one of the fire patterns caused by fire thermal effect, plays a big role in the fire investigation of building fire, so the study is of great significance to fire investigation and safety development. This paper presents an experimental investigation focusing on the effects of various burner dimensions and heat release rates on the wall fire plume smoke pattern characteristics, as well as the relationship between it and wall fire plume characteristic parameters. Major findings are: (1) The symmetrical smoke pattern from fuel burning first incurves, then spreads outward, finally decreases to the centreline gradually. (2) The smoke pattern region increases as heat release rate increasing and burner dimension decreasing. (3) A dimensionless model of wall fire plume smoke pattern is proposed, associated with burner dimension, heat release rate, flame height and temperature, by which, the parameters in the history of fire can be learned to help fire scene reconstruction. The findings of this study contribute to understanding the evolution of smoke patterns produced by gaseous fuels and support advancements in experimental fire research and accident investigations.