Scaling realistic fire scenarios

A review is made of work on scale modeling in fire and presented from the experience of the author. Primarily, scale modeling in air is discussed but there is a brief discussion of a scale model with salt and fresh water for smoke movement. A complete set of dimensionless groups is presented for fire, then it is illustrated how selections were made for the partial scaling of specific fire scenarios. Studies have been motivated by basic research interests as well as for fire investigations. The dynamics of floorcovering fire spread in a corridor is studied to reveal many features of fire behavior and validation is made with full-scale. Smoke movement in a department store atrium is studied to reveal flaws in the fire suppression system. The challenge was to develop a water mist system that passed fire testing, and was systematically done using a scale model and confirmed at full-scale. Fire effects on steel structures were studied at various scales, and a related classroom project examined one floor of the World Trade Center collapse on September 9, 2001. Finally, scaling was examined for a fire development in a furnished bedroom, pushing the limits of modeling to its utmost but finding some success in illustrating very similar overall behavior

Analysis of extinction and sustained ignition

The limiting conditions for sustained burning of materials are studied experimentally using gas burners. Small pool fire configurations are examined to determine the mass flux for a sustained surface diffusion flame (fire point) and the subsequent extinction limit of that flame. The burner results are compared to material data for sustained ignition, and are found to be lower. Material reported values of a critical mass flux are disparate, and burner data show that the critical mass flux can range from about 1 to 50 g/m 2 s. Previous studies have indicated the results depend on the convective heat transfer coefficient and the heat of combustion of the gases, but until this work no study has been presented to systematically show these dependencies. Three porous gas burners of diameters 25, 50 and 100 mm were used with fuel gases including methane, propane, isobutene, and ethylene mixed with nitrogen to precisely change the mixture heat of combustion. Diffusion flame theory based on a critical flame temperature at extinction is used to explain and correlate data for both limits. It was found that there is no statistical difference between the sustained ignition and extinction limits. A correlation for the critical mass flux is produced with heat of combustion and fuel diameter as sole dependent variables for all the fuels except methane. The results show that no burning is possible below a heat of combustion of 3–4 kJ/g. This is consistent with the European classification system for non-combustibility where the corresponding limit is set at 2 kJ/g

Study of ignition and extinction of small-scale fires in experiments with an emulating gas burner

The objective of this study is to explore mechanisms for ignition and extinction for condensed-phase fuels via the use of a gas-fueled burner. Flames were generated with a porous 25 mm circular burner using mixtures of methane and propane with nitrogen. The procedure was to specify a set of mass fluxes of nitrogen-fuel mixture that corresponded to the flash- fire- and extinction points and for the minimum mass flux where steady burning was achieved. The results show an increase in the critical mass flux with a decreased heat of combustion. The data fall into two regimes depending on the mixture flow rate; one buoyancy-driven (Fr<1) and one induced by momentum jet forces. The buoyancy-driven regime is geometrically consistent with the definitions of flash and fire points under natural convection conditions. The results for the momentum regime align reasonably with existing stagnant layer theory. Extinction theory is also suggested to give approximate results for the fire point. This argument is based on similar flame geometries for fire point and extinction and theoretical reasoning. An anchor point is proposed as the end point of ignition. Produced anchor point data result in a flammability diagram, below which quasi-steady burning occurs

The role of aircraft panel materials in cabin fires and their properties. Final report.

Federal Aviation Administration, Washington, D.C.Mode of access: Internet.Author corporate affiliation: National Bureau of Standards, Washington, D.C.Subject code: DDCSubject code: JKDSubject code: NEKP