Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Effects of Leakage in Simulations of Positive Pressure Ventilation

  • Published:
Fire Technology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The fire service uses a number of tactics to reduce hazards for fire-fighters and civilians within a structure on fire. One offensive fire-fighting tactic that has potential for rapidly improving or degrading conditions within the structure is ventilating the structure. Positive pressure ventilation is a tactic in which a fan is used to push hot products of combustion out of a burning structure. While a recent body of work has been produced on the effects of positive pressure ventilation in a number of fire systems, there is still widespread uncertainty on how the tactic affects the fire environment. Computational tools will play an important role in exploring the impact of positive pressure ventilation in various fire scenarios. In many simulations of structure fires, the impact of leakage on the evolution of the fire is not addressed. We find in this study that ad hoc models of leakage have significant impact on the evolution of the fire. Several ad hoc leakage models are proposed and these are studied in terms of their impact of the fire. We show that one particular leakage geometry is able to best model leakage effects in a series of fire simulations that are compared to experiments. Simple, first-order analysis is used to understand how these leakage flows affect the predictions.

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

Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
Figure 4
Figure 5
Figure 6
Figure 7
Figure 8
Figure 9
Figure 10
Figure 11
Figure 12
Figure 13
Figure 14
Figure 15
Figure 16
Figure 17
Figure 18
Figure 19
Figure 20
Figure 21
Figure 22
Figure 23
Figure 24
Figure 25
Figure 26

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Mittendorf J (1996) Strip ventilation tactics. Fire Eng 149(3):48

    Google Scholar 

  2. Ziesler PS, Gunnerson FS, Williams SK (1994) Advances in Positive Pressure Ventilation. Fire Technology 30:269

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. S Svensson (2001) Experimental Study of Fire Ventilation during Fire Fighting Operations. Fire Technology 37:69–85

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Svensson S (2002) A Study of Tactical Patterns during Fire Fighting Operations. Fire Safety Journal 37:673–695

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Ezekoye OA, Lakshminarasimhan K, Seers P, Nicks R (2005) Effects of positive pressure ventilation on thermal conditions downstream of a fire. Fire Technol 41:193–208

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Kerber S, Walton WD (2005) Effect of positive pressure ventilation on a room fire. NISTIR 7213, March 2005

  7. Vettori RL, Madrzykowski D, Walton WD (2000) Simulation of the dynamics of a fire in a one-story restaurant, Texas, February 14. NISTIR 6923, October 2000

  8. Sinai YL (1999) Comments on role of leakages in field modeling of under-ventilated compartment fires. Fire Safety J 33(1):11–20

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. McGrattan KB, Baum HR, Rehm RG, Hamins A, Forney GP, Floyd JE, Hostikka S, Prasad K (2002) Fire dynamics simulator (version 4)—technical reference guide. NISTIR 6783

  10. McGrattan KB, Forney GP, Floyd JE, Hostikka S, Prasad K (2002) Fire dynamics simulator (version 4)—user’s guide. NISTIR 6784

  11. Tewarson A (1995) Generation of heat and chemical compounds in fire. In: SFPE handbook of fire engineering, 2nd edn. Society of fire protection engineers, Boston, MA, pp. 3.53–3.124

  12. Fire Experimental Results. Building and Fire Research Laboratory, available at: http://www.fire.nist.gov/fire/fires/fires.html. Retrieved June 2006

  13. Quintiere JG (2006) Fundamentals of Fire Phenomena. John Wiley & Sons Ltd, Chichester, West Sussex, England

    Book  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, 78712, USA

    C. M. Beal, M. Fakhreddine & O. A. Ezekoye

Authors
  1. C. M. Beal
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. M. Fakhreddine
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. O. A. Ezekoye
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to O. A. Ezekoye.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Beal, C.M., Fakhreddine, M. & Ezekoye, O.A. Effects of Leakage in Simulations of Positive Pressure Ventilation. Fire Technol 45, 257–286 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10694-008-0055-7

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10694-008-0055-7

Keywords

Search

Navigation