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Near-Field Radiant Heat Flux from Open-Air Gasoline and Diesel Pool Fires: Modified Point Source and Discretized Solid Flame Models

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Abstract

This paper proposes novel modifications to existing solid flame and point source models to better predict the spatial contour of near-field, steady-state radiant heat flux from large circular pool fires (with diameters ranging from 1 m to 20 m) with gasoline and diesel fuel. The proposed models account for partial smoke obscuration of the flames, and the emissive power of the visible flame layer is calculated via a radiative fraction of the fire’s heat release rate as a function of the pool size. The modified discretized solid flame model uses a cylinder + cone shape combination whose surfaces are discretized to enable a flexible summation of total radiative energy emission. The modified point source model places its radiating point at the mid-height of the visible flame layer to capture the location of maximum radiation intensity. Predictions from both proposed models are benchmarked against available data from pool fire experiments, calibrated against computational fluid dynamic simulations, and compared with existing analytical solutions for a range of pool fire diameters at varying standoffs and gauge heights. The results demonstrate that the proposed models can effectively predict the spatial contour and peak value of radiant heat flux on nearby targets (i.e., at distances less than 2.5 times the pool diameter) with low computational effort.

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Data Availability

Data pertaining to this study is available from the authors upon request, including input files for FDS analyses as well as numeric output from the proposed models.

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  • 06 March 2021

    The citation of the figures in the context and order of figures has been corrected now.

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Acknowledgements

Financial support for Dr. Zhu’s involvement in this project as a doctoral research assistant was provided by Lehigh University via Professor Quiel’s faculty startup fund. Additional support for Dr. Zhu’s involvement in this project as a postdoctoral research associate was provided by the U.S. Department of Transportation (Grant #69A3551747118) via the University Transportation Center for Underground Transportation Infrastructure (UTC-UTI) at the Colorado School of Mines. The opinions expressed in this paper are the authors’ and not that of the US DOT, UTC-UTI, or Lehigh University.

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  1. ATLSS Engineering Center, Lehigh University, 117 ATLSS Drive, Bethlehem, PA, 18015, USA

    Zheda Zhu & Spencer E. Quiel

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Zhu, Z., Quiel, S.E. Near-Field Radiant Heat Flux from Open-Air Gasoline and Diesel Pool Fires: Modified Point Source and Discretized Solid Flame Models. Fire Technol 57, 1901–1926 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10694-021-01097-y

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