Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Large Eddy Simulations of a Set of Experiments with Water Spray-Hot Air Jet Plume Interactions

  • Published:
Flow, Turbulence and Combustion Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Large eddy simulations of water spray-hot air jet plume interactions, as obtained with FireFOAM 2.2.x, are presented. Three hot air jet plumes, with thermal powers of 1.6, 2.1 and 2.6 kW, are examined, interacting with a water spray with discharge rate of 0.084 lpm. A systematic comparison between simulations and experiments involving only the hot air jet plumes, the water spray alone and the combination of the two has been performed in order to evaluate the predictive capabilities of FireFOAM. Overall, the code is capable of predicting well the mean values of the hot air jet plumes but deviations are evident for the rms values. Discrepancies in the predictions of the volume fluxes in the near-field for the water spray alone case are observed if the experimentally reported injection angle is used. Improvements are observed if the injection angle is modified based on the experimentally reported data in the near-field. The interactions between the hot air jet plumes and water sprays, are characterized by the location of the interaction region. The interaction boundary moves up from the base of the plume by increasing the convective heat release rates. The simulation results follow the experimental trend but deviate up to 26% due to the differences in the predicted hot air jet plumes and spray characteristics.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Merci, B., Beji, T.: Fluid Mechanics Aspects of Fire and Smoke Dynamics in Enclosure. Taylor and Francis Group, London (2016)

    Book  Google Scholar 

  2. Grant, G., Brenton, J., Drysdale, D.: Fire suppression by water sprays. Prog. Energy Combust. Sci. 26, 79–130 (2000)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Iannantuoni, L., Ettorre, D., Manzini, G., Araneo, L.: Validation and assessment of a water mist multi-hole nozzle model for fire simulations. Fire Technol. 50, 505–524 (2013)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Sikanen, T., Vaari, J., Hostikka, S., Paajanen, A.: Modeling and simulation of high pressure water mist systems. Fire Technol. 50, 483–504 (2014)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Beji, T., Ebrahimzadeh, S., Maragkos, G., Merci, B.: Influence of the particle injection rate, droplet size distribution and volume flux angular distribution on the results and computational time of water spray CFD simulations. Fire Saf. J. 91, 586–595 (2017)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Kim, S.C., Ryou, H.S.: An experimental and numerical study on fire suppression using a water mist in an enclosure. Building Environ. 38, 1309–1316 (2003)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Hart, R.A.: Numerical Modelling of Tunnel Fires and Water Mist Suppression. PhD thesis, University of Nottingham (2005)

  8. Meredith, K.V., Chatterjee, P., Wang, Y., Xin, Y.: Simulating sprinkler based rack storage fire suppression under uniform water application. In: 7th International Seminar on Fire and Explosion Hazards, Providence, RI (2013)

  9. Meredith, K.V., Zhou, X., Ebrahimzadeh, S., Merci, B.: Numerical simulation of spray-plume interactions. In: 9th U.S. National Combustion. Meeting, Cincinnati, Ohio (2015)

  10. Sheppard, D.T.: Spray Characteristics of Fire Sprinklers. US Department of Commerce National Institute of Standards and Technology (2002)

  11. George, W.K., Alpert, R.L., Tamanini, F.: Turbulence measurements in an axisymmetric buoyant plume. Int. J. Heat Mass Transf. 20, 1145–1154 (1977)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Shabbir, A., George, W.K.: Experiments on a round turbulent buoyant plume. J. Fluid Mech. 275, 1–32 (1994)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Hua, J., Kumar, K., Khoo, B.C., Xue, H.: A numerical study of the interaction of water spray with a fire plume. Fire Saf. J. 37, 631–657 (2002)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Zhou, X., Luo, K.H., Williams, J.J.R.: Large-eddy simulation of a turbulent forced plume. Eur. J. Mech. B. Fluids 20, 233–254 (2001)

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

  15. Worthy, J., Rubini, P.: A study of les stress and flux models applied to a buoyant jet. Numer. Heat Transfer, Part B: Fundamentals 48, 235–256 (2005)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Yan, Z.H.: Large eddy simulations of a turbulent thermal plume. Heat Mass Transf. 43, 503–514 (2007)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Maragkos, G., Rauwoens, P., Wang, Y., Merci, B.: Large eddy simulations of the flow in the near-field region of a turbulent buoyant helium plume. Flow Turbul. Combust. 90, 511–543 (2013)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Xin, Y., Gore, J., McGrattan, K.B., Rehm, R.G., Baum, H.R.: Large eddy simulation of buoyant turbulent pool fires. Proc. Combust. Inst. 29, 259–266 (2002)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Worthy, J., Rubini, P.: Large eddy simulation of buoyant plumes. In: 4th International Seminar on Fire and Explosion Hazards, Londonderry, UK (2003)

  20. Zhou, X.: Characterization of interactions between hot air plumes and water sprays for sprinkler protection. Proc. Combust. Inst. 35, 2723–2729 (2015)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Zhou, X.: PIV Measurements of velocity fields of three hot air jet plumes impinging on a horizontal ceiling. In: 10th Asia-Oceania Symposium on Fire Science and Technology, Tsukuba, Japan (2015)

  22. Alpert, R.L.: Turbulent ceiling-jet induced by large-scale fires. Combust. Sci. Technol. 11, 197–213 (1975)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. You, H.Z., Faeth, G.M.: An Investigation of Fire Impingement on a Horizontal Ceiling. Pennsylvania State University, Department of Mechanical Engineering (1981)

  24. Kung, H.-C., You, H.-Z., Spaulding, R.D.: Ceiling flows of growing rack storage fires. Proc. Combust. Inst. 21, 121–128 (1986)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Chatterjee, P., Meredith, K.V., Ditch, B., Yu, H.-Z., Wang, Y., Tamanini, F.: Numerical simulations of strong-plume driven ceiling flows. Fire Saf. Sci. 11, 458–471 (2014)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Cooper, L.Y.: The interaction of an isolated sprinkler spray and a two-layer compartment fire environment. Int. J. Heat Mass Transf. 38, 679–690 (1995)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Schwille, J.A., Lueptow, R.M.: The reaction of a fire plume to a droplet spray. Fire Saf. J. 41, 390–398 (2006)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Kung, H.-C., Song, B., Li, Y., Liu, X., Tian, L., Yang, B.: Sprinkler protection of non-storage occupancies with high ceiling clearance. Fire Saf. J. 54, 49–56 (2012)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Bill, R.G.: Numerical simulation of actual delivered density (ADD) measurements. Fire Saf. J. 20, 227–240 (1993)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Alpert, R.L.: Numerical modeling of the interaction between automatic sprinkler sprays and fire plumes. Fire Saf. J. 9, 157–163 (1985)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Nam, S.: Numerical simulation of the penetration capability of sprinkler sprays. Fire Saf. J. 39, 307–329 (1999)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. Nam, S.: Development of a computational model simulating the interaction between a fire plume and a sprinkler spray. Fire Saf. J. 26, 1–33 (1999)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. Lefebvre, A.H.: Atomization and Sprays. Hemisphere Pub. (1989)

  34. O’Grady, N., Novozhilov, V.: Large eddy simulation of sprinkler interaction with a fire ceiling jet. Combust. Sci. Technol. 181, 984–1006 (2009)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  35. Poinsot, T., Veynante, D.: Theoretical and Numerical Combustion. Edwards (2012)

  36. Moin, P., Squires, K., Cabot, W., Lee, S.: A dynamic subgrid-scale model for compressible turbulence and scalar transport. Phys. Fluids A 3, 2746–2757 (1991)

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

  37. Maragkos, G., Beji, T., Merci, B.: Advances in modelling in CFD simulations of turbulent gaseous pool fires. Combust. Flame 181, 22–38 (2017)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  38. Kuo, K.K.: Recent Advances in Spray Combustion, Volumes I and II, AIAA (1996)

  39. Ranz, W.E., Marshall, W.R.: Evaporation from drops. Chem. Eng. Prog. 48, 141–146 (1952)

    Google Scholar 

  40. Bird, R., Stewart, W., Lightfoot, W.: Transport Phenomena. Wiley, New Jersey (1960)

    Google Scholar 

  41. Macpherson, G.B., Nordin, N., Weller, H.G.: Particle tracking in unstructured, arbitrary polyhedral meshes for use in cfd and molecular dynamics. Commun Numer. Methods Eng. 25, 263–273 (2008)

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

  42. Nordin, N.: Complex Chemistry Modelling of Diesel Spray Combustion. PhD Thesis, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden (2001)

  43. Kärrholm, F.P.: Numerical Modelling of Diesel Spray Injection, Turbulence Interaction and Combustion. PhD Thesis, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden (2008)

  44. Ebrahimzadeh, S.: Extensive Study of the Interaction of a Hot Air Plume with a Water Spray by Means of CFD Simulations. PhD Thesis, Ghent University, Belgium (2016)

    Google Scholar 

  45. Bullen, M.L.: The Effect of a Sprinkler on the Stability of a Smoke Layer Beneath a Ceiling, Fire Research Note 1016, pp 1–11. Fire Research Section, Borehamwood, UK (1974)

    Google Scholar 

  46. Tang, Z., Vierendeels, J., Fang, Z., Merci, B.: Description and application of an analytical model to quantify downward smoke displacement caused by a water spray. Fire Saf. J. 55, 50–60 (2013)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  47. Tang, Z., Fang, Z., Merci, B.: Development of an analytical model to quantify downward smoke displacement caused by a water spray for zone model simulations. Fire Saf. J. 63, 89–100 (2014)

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This research has been conducted within the PREdiction of Turbulent REactive Flows (PRETREF) project (http://www.pretref.ugent.be) and has been funded by Ghent University (Belgium) through GOA project BOF16/GOA/004. Dr. Tarek Beji is a post-doctoral fellow of the Fund of Scientific Research - Flanders (Belgium) (FWO Vlaanderen). Technical support from FM Global regarding the water spray modelling in FireFOAM is greatly acknowledged.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. VK Architects & Engineers, Guldensporenpark 3, 9820, Merelbeke, Belgium

    S. Ebrahimzadeh

  2. Department of Flow, Heat and Combustion Mechanics, Ghent University, St. Pietersnieuwstraat 41, B-9000, Ghent, Belgium

    G. Maragkos, T. Beji & B. Merci

Authors
  1. S. Ebrahimzadeh
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. G. Maragkos
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. T. Beji
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. B. Merci
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to S. Ebrahimzadeh.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interests

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Ebrahimzadeh, S., Maragkos, G., Beji, T. et al. Large Eddy Simulations of a Set of Experiments with Water Spray-Hot Air Jet Plume Interactions. Flow Turbulence Combust 103, 203–223 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10494-019-00012-4

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10494-019-00012-4

Keywords

Search

Navigation