Abstract
Smoldering is flameless combustion that occurs on the surface of the condensed phase that is very difficult to detect and which causes serious fire risks in residential and industrial areas by the presence of turbulent winds. Statistics show that major fire accidents are due to smoldering for example cigarettes. Smoldering combustion is also a great concern in space facilities like ISS since the zero gravity environments can increase the rate of smoldering propagation. The main motivation of this paper is to design and develop the wind tunnel in order to study the effect of aerodynamic and combustible properties on the smoldering. A wind tunnel is an effective tool that is used to study the aerodynamic effects of air or smoke when it is allowed flowing past the solid bodies. The specific measurements that are required to construct the wind tunnel are mentioned in this paper, as well as the materials used in various sections of the wind tunnel are discussed. The power source and light source used for the visualization of the turbulent wind flow past the burning fuel are discussed. A low-speed tabletop wind tunnel is first designed using CATIA and then fabricated using necessary tools. The results from these experiments can be used to know how the combined effect of both laminar and turbulent flow on smoldering combustion is more harmful than the normal combustion.
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Acknowledgements
The authors acknowledge the usage of Flow Visualization Laboratory present in the Department of Aerospace Engineering, SRM Institute of Science and Technology (SRMIST) for the experiments performed towards the present research work.
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Sanjana, S., Rakshantha, M., Venkat, Y.B., Kannan, B.T. (2021). Design and Development of Wind Tunnel to Study Smoldering Combustion. In: Vijayan, S., Subramanian, N., Sankaranarayanasamy, K. (eds) Trends in Manufacturing and Engineering Management. Lecture Notes in Mechanical Engineering. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-4745-4_90
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-4745-4_90
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