Fire Safety Journal最新文献

In most of the fire accidents, there is large oil layer leaking into the fire dike and multiple fire points burning simultaneously. A series of numerical simulations for co-burning of a dike and double tanks (co-burning) with different spacing S have been conducted to study the plume flow behavior and air entrainment characteristics. The simulation results show that there is a conical fuel-rich region on the upper rim of the tank which results in the entrained air to flow circularly along the surface of the conical region. With the increase of S, the restriction effect of tank sidewall on air entrainment from environment enhances, while the restriction degree of air entrainment in the middle area of the double tanks decreases, affecting the distribution of plume velocity field and temperature field. And under the coupling effect of them, the tilt degree of tank flame decreases with the increase of S (from 0.3 m to 0.7 m). The air entrainment restriction coefficient ${\alpha }_B$, ${\alpha }_S$ are introduced to characterize the restriction effect of air entrainment between the external dike fire and the double tank fires. Based on this, a co-burning plume entrainment model has been established, which can be applicable to different spacing S.

This research investigates the fire resistance properties of alkali activated Na-based geopolymers (GP), used as steel protective coatings. The effect of different Al/Si molar ratios (0–0.54) is evaluated fire test. When coated on a steel plate, GP having the smaller Al/Si ratio exhibits an intumescent behavior with the highest expansion. When Al/Si = 0, the temperature at the backside of the steel plate is 313 °C which is decreased by 347 °C compared to an uncoated steel plate (660 °C). After fire testing, the GP physico-chemical properties are characterized with optical microscopy, Electron probe micro-analysis, dynamic mechanical analysis. According to stiffness test results, when the temperature approaches 100 °C, the GP with a given Al/Si ratio (different from zero) softens and expands (intumescence). The greater the Al/Si ratio in the GP, the more rigid the structure; this phenomenon limits expansion, and hence, lowers the fire protection.

Two fire experiments have been conducted to study sprinkler system extinguishing performance in a compartment (13 m²) with an adjacent corridor (12 m²), both with exposed cross-laminated timber (CLT). Four nozzles were installed in the corridor and two in the compartment. In Experiment 1, the sprinkler system was fully functional and successfully controlled a concealed fire. In Experiment 2, nozzles in the compartment were disconnected, while the corridor nozzles were operative, giving flashover after 5 min with large flames emerging into the corridor, rapidly worsening evacuation conditions. Despite four activated nozzles in the corridor, the temperatures remained high, and flames spread through the corridor along the CLT ceiling and the upper parts of the wall, an area that was not effectively protected by the nozzles. After flashover, the compartment temperatures remained stable at ∼1000 °C until experiment termination at 96 min. This continued fire in the compartment can be explained by water from the corridor sprinklers not reaching this area, extensive radiative feedback by the CLT surfaces and delamination of CLT elements of the 20 mm layers. The charring rate was ≥1.1 mm/min for large parts of the exposed CLT wall and ceiling in the compartment during the fire.

Smoke control in a longitudinally ventilated tunnel with various blockage conditions was investigated experimentally. A total of 28 tests were conducted with a focus on single blockage with a short distance from the fire source, although continuous blockage and semicontinuous blockage were also discussed. Both gas and pool fires were used. The aim was to understand the influence of upstream blockage on critical velocity and babcklayering length. The results confirm that blockage ratio is a critical parameter when determining the critical velocity and backlayering length. The longitudinal location of the blockage in relation to the fire source also influences the values of critical velocity and backlayering length. The experiments presented are in scale 1 to 3.3, representing a medium sized tunnel. The focus was on free flow conditions and blockage ratios of regular sizes. For the various tested scenarios with single blockage, the reduction ratio of critical velocity appears to be slightly less than the blockage ratio. However, when the blockage is attached to the upstream side of the fire source, the reduction ratio of critical velocity approximately equals the blockage ratio.

The fire resistance of building assemblies can be determined through testing or by numerical modelling. As testing of building assemblies is expensive and time-consuming, the development of numerical modelling methods is gaining momentum. One of the challenges in modelling assemblies’ thermal performance is insulation dimensional shrinkage at elevated temperatures. To address this challenge, this paper presents a comprehensive experimental investigation into the shrinkage of glass and mineral fibre insulation materials under elevated temperature conditions. Initially, a series of tests was conducted to establish the temperature range within which significant shrinkage occurs for both types of insulation. Then, visual observations and measurements were recorded to assess the physical and dimensional changes of the insulation materials within the identified temperature range for shrinkage, indicating distinct responses of glass and mineral fibre insulation to thermal exposure. Compared to width and length variations, thickness reduction in insulation was more significant. Overall, the insulation thickness decreased as the exposed temperature increased. The glass fibre insulation completely melted at 710 °C, while mineral fibre insulation disintegrated at 1000 °C. In addition, empirical equations were derived to assess the thickness variations of these insulations at elevated temperatures, which can greatly enhance the accuracy of future thermal models under fire scenarios. Lastly, potential areas for future research are identified.

192 coupled wind and fire CFD simulations were performed using ANSYS Fluent to study the wind and fire interaction in an open car park. The natural ventilation was insufficient for removal of smoke and heat for the majority of investigated fires. Blockage effect was observed for wind directions parallel to the open walls, which resulted in reduced smoke removal and higher smoke temperatures. With known probabilities of all the investigated wind speed and directions, we have estimated the percentage of time in which fire outcomes are acceptable. This value was coined as the car park operational uptime, and was 84.9 %–92.8 % in relation to the fire with HRR = 1.4 MW; 36.5 %–56.1 % at 4.0 MW; 34.1 %–54.4 % at 6.0 MW and 12.13–25.5 % at 8.8 MW. In 6.22 % of wind cases, the velocity inside the car park exceeded 3.0 m/s, which could potentially contribute to the growth of the fire. Limitations of the study include the assumed wind probability distribution relevant to the Warsaw region, the single location of the fire used in the assessment and the implicit modelling of topography and architecture through an introduced wind profile and terrain roughness model.

Through the heat-mass transfer analogy, naphthalene sublimation experiments were conducted in a heated-air wind tunnel to study the effects of aspect ratio and dimensionless separation distance on the convective heat transfer coefficients of three tandem naphthalene cylinders. Nusselt number correlations were presented for the individual naphthalene cylinders and the full configuration of three cylinders. In all the cases studied, the Reynolds number had the strongest effect on the Nusselt number followed by the aspect ratio and the dimensionless separation distance. Nusselt numbers were higher for the smaller aspect ratios. For a given Reynolds number and aspect ratio, the Nusselt number increases with the dimensionless separation distance.

Gaseous fire-extinguishing agents have received widespread attention due to their high efficiency, excellent extinguishing performance, and limited damage to protected objects. Previous attempts have mainly focused on the fire-extinguishing effect of single gaseous fire-extinguishing agents, where the synergistic use of gaseous extinguishing agents with different extinguishing agents has been less summarized. This study critically reviewed typical gaseous fire-extinguishing agents and their synergistic extinguishing effects, including Novec1230, hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), inert or inactive gases, etc. It was known that the synergistic use of different extinguishing agents could compensate for the shortcomings of a single agent in physical or chemical fire extinguishing, reduce the amount of extinguishing agent used, the production of toxic substances, and improve the efficiency of the mixed system of fire extinguishing. Gas-gas synergy (e.g., Novec1230-C₆F₁₅N or Novec1230-CO₂) can inhibit the flammability of some gaseous extinguishing agents at low concentrations and enhance the flame retardant and explosion suppressant effects of the mixed systems. Gas-liquid synergy (e.g., Novec1230-water mist or HFC-227ea-water mist) considers both the roles of rapid fire suppression and cooling of the protection object. To a certain extent, gas-solid synergy (e.g., HFC-227ea-SiO₂ dry powder or N₂-ABC dry powder) makes up for the poor coverage of dry powder fire extinguishing agents to achieve rapid and low-pollution fire extinguishing goals. This review offers guidance and suggestions for the efficient and clean use of extinguishing agents and the potential future direction.

Any target exposed to a heat source receives a certain amount of heat flux, depending on the distance, view factor, characteristics of the source, and environmental properties. Incident heat flux is mainly characterized by firefront properties, e.g., flame dimensions, and its thermal attributes by fuel properties, topography, and meteorological factors. Predicting the incident heat flux from the firefronts is crucial for fire risk management and analytical and numerical fire modelling. Based on this specification, safe zones can be defined for elements such as unprotected individuals, firefighters, and buildings. Since the contribution of radiation and convection varies with the fire evolution, it is essential to specify them as a function of distance and slope. This study elaborates determination of radiation and convection for firefronts. Sets of laboratory-scale experiments were conducted using fuel beds of straw with a load of 1.5 kg/m² on the slopes of 0°, 20°, and 40° measuring the incident radiative and total heat fluxes. The proposed methodology was validated using available approaches and correlations between the flame length and the acceptable safety distance (ASD) were established. Unlike the existing models, a nonlinear correlation between convection and radiation during the firefront evolution is proposed.