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External Wind Effect on Flame Behavior Inside and Outside a Compartment with Opposing Openings

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Abstract

This paper is to quantify the external wind effects on flame behavior evolutions inside and outside a compartment with opposing openings. Temperature profiles at the windward and leeward corners inside the compartment as well as the external flame trajectories were investigated. Experimental results show that the flame shape inside the compartment changes from the windward symmetrical rotation flame to the leeward deflection flame, as the heat release rate increases or the external wind velocity decreases. It results from the competition between the buoyancy force of fire plume and the wind-driven flow field. Two external flame shapes, the horizontally ejected fire and spill-like plume, take place in sequence with decreasing wind velocity. The trajectory of horizontally ejected fire is perpendicular to the building façade. By validating coordinate values of trajectory databases for the spill-like plume, prediction correlations for the trajectory are developed with a notion of the physical process.

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Acknowledgment

This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) under Grant Nos. 51976211, opening fund of the State Key Laboratory of Fire Science under Grant No. HZ2019-KF06, the Key Research and the Development Program of Anhui Province (Grant No. 201904a07020059).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Civil Engineering, Huaqiao University, Xiamen, 361021, Fujian, China

    Man Li

  2. State Key Laboratory of Fire Science, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230026, Anhui, China

    Man Li, Zihe Gao, Jie Ji & Huaxian Wan

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  1. Man Li
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  2. Zihe Gao
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  3. Jie Ji
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  4. Huaxian Wan
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Correspondence to Jie Ji.

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Li, M., Gao, Z., Ji, J. et al. External Wind Effect on Flame Behavior Inside and Outside a Compartment with Opposing Openings. Fire Technol 57, 1987–2006 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10694-021-01104-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10694-021-01104-2

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