Effect of geometrical dimensions on flame spread rate over U-shaped polyurethane facade and theoretical analysis

Abstract

Polyurethane is widely used in building facades as a good energy-saving and environment-friendly organic material, and the U-shaped structure is a common facade form as it could improve indoor lighting and ventilation. Through numerical simulation and theoretical analysis, this study found the flame spread rate of polyurethane foam over a U-shaped facade was affected by the structural dimensions due to three main factors: lateral air entrainment restriction, bottom air entrainment restriction, and flame fusion between the back wall flame and side wall flame. The average flame spread rate was negative linearly correlated with the back wall width and positive exponentially correlated with the side wall length. This was due to that the side walls caused lateral air entrainment restriction, reduced the heat loss, enhanced the thermal feedback, generated an upward induced airflow close to the back wall, elongated the flame, and also caused the flame fusion between side walls and the back wall, thus accelerated the flame spread process compared to the flat structures.