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Experimental Study of Sidewall and Pressure Effect on Vertical Downward Flame Spread Over Insulation Material

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Fire Science and Technology 2015

Abstract

In this work, experiments were conducted to investigate the sidewall and pressure effect on vertical downward flame spread over insulation material. Experimental results and theoretical analysis are presented to reveal the mechanisms. Results showed that the flame spread rate and mass loss rate increased, while deceleration trends were observed with the increase in sidewall geometrical factor. The maximum increase for flame spread rate and mass loss rate without and with sidewalls was approximately 20 % and 40 %, respectively. Flame spread rate, flame height, and mass loss rate were in positive relationships with pressure. By providing an air entrainment analysis, it is found that, theoretically, flame spread rate is proportional to induced flow speed which increases with geometrical factor and mass loss rate and decreases with back wall width. The theoretical analysis is in good agreement with experimental results.

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Abbreviations

\( {\overset{.}{q}}^{{\prime\prime} } \) :

Heat flux (w/m2)

\( \overset{.}{m} \) :

Mass loss rate (kg/s)

A :

Area (m2) or pre-exponential factor

C :

Constant

c p , c v :

Constant pressure, constant volume heat capacity (J/(kg∙K))

D :

Molecular diffusivity (m2/s)

E a :

Activation energy (kJ/mol)

Fr :

Froude number \( \left(Fr={u}_{\infty}^2/(wg)\right) \)

g :

Gravity (m/s2)

H :

Height (m)

k :

Thermal conductivity (W/(m∙K))

L :

Length (m)

M :

Molar mass (kg/mol)

n :

Amount of substance (mol) or power variable

P :

Pressure (Pa)

Pe w :

Peclet number \( \left(P{e}_w={u}_{\infty }w/g\right) \)

Q :

Flow rate (m3/s)

R :

Ideal gas constant

R g :

Specific gas constant \( \left({R}_g=R/M\right) \)

S a :

Stoichiometric air-to-fuel mass ratio

T :

Temperature (K)

u ∞ :

Induced flow velocity (m/s)

w :

Characteristic width (m)

W :

Width (m)

α:

Sidewall geometrical factor \( \left(\alpha ={W}_{sw}/{W}_{bw}\right) \)

σ :

Molecular radius

δ :

Boundary layer thicknesses (m)

ρ :

Density (kg/m3)

g :

Air/gas phase

s :

Solid phase

f :

Flame

ig :

Ignition

bw :

Back wall

sw :

Sidewall

BF :

Flame boundary layer

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Acknowledgment

This work is supported by National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program, Grant. No.2012CB719702), the Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education (No. 20113402110023), and Key Technologies R&D Program of China during the 12th Five-Year Plan Period (No. 2013BAJ01B05).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Fire Science, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, 230027, China

    Weigang Yan, Lin Jiang, Weiguang An, Zhen Li & Jinhua Sun

  2. USTC-CityU Joint Advanced Research Centre (Suzhou), Suzhou, 215123, China

    Weigang Yan & Weiguang An

  3. Rudong Coastal Development Zone of Jiangsu, Rudong, 226407, China

    Yang Shen

  4. Department of Fire Protection Engineering, School of civil engineering, Central South University, Changsha, 410075, China

    Yang Zhou

Authors
  1. Weigang Yan
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  2. Yang Shen
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  3. Lin Jiang
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  4. Weiguang An
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  5. Yang Zhou
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  6. Zhen Li
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  7. Jinhua Sun
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jinhua Sun .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Kyoto University, Kyoto, Kyoto, Japan

    Kazunori Harada

  2. Tokyo University of Science, Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan

    Ken Matsuyama

  3. National Inst. for Land and Infra Mgmt, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan

    Keisuke Himoto

  4. Toyohashi University of Technology, Toyohashi, Aichi, Japan

    Yuji Nakamura

  5. Shinshu University, Ueda, Nagano, Japan

    Kaoru Wakatsuki

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Yan, W. et al. (2017). Experimental Study of Sidewall and Pressure Effect on Vertical Downward Flame Spread Over Insulation Material. In: Harada, K., Matsuyama, K., Himoto, K., Nakamura, Y., Wakatsuki, K. (eds) Fire Science and Technology 2015. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-0376-9_84

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-0376-9_84

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore

  • Print ISBN: 978-981-10-0375-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-981-10-0376-9

  • eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)

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