Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Automatic Fire Sprinkler Activation Time with Quadratic Fire Growth

  • Manuscript
  • Published:
Fire Technology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Fires with a heat release rate that grows quadratically in time and levels off after the first automatic fire sprinkler is activated are routinely used in evaluating the consequences of fire in performance based design projects. In order to calculate the sprinkler activation time one needs to solve the differential equation that governs the heat transfer between the ceiling jet and the sensing element of the automatic fire sprinkler, an equation that depends on the temperature and velocity of the gas. Well-known empirical correlations between ceiling jet properties and heat release rate as well as numerical simulations can be used to determine the temperature and velocity of the gas. Here a comparison and discussion of the results obtained for the activation time and activation heat release rate using both approaches is presented, which can help authorities having jurisdiction to assess safety reports when there are no clear regulations about which method should be applied.

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

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. For a viscous fluid the velocity must vanish on the ceiling and hence there must be a maximum at a short distance from the ceiling. To resolve the maximum in a simulation one should take cell sizes smaller than 5 cm, which is beyond the scope of this work.

References

  1. Hadjisophocleous GV, Mehaffey JR (2016) In: Hurley MJ, Gottuk D, Hall JR, Harada K, Kuligowski E, Puchovsky M, Torero J, Watts JM, Wieczorek C (eds) Fire scenarios. Springer, New York, pp 1262–1288. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-2565-0_38

  2. Schifiliti RP, Custer RLP, Meacham BJ (2016) In: Hurley MJ, Gottuk D, Hall JR, Harada K, Kuligowsk, E, Puchovsky M, Torero J, Watts JM, Wieczorek C (eds) Design of detection systems. Springer, New York, pp 1314–1377. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-2565-0_40

  3. Heskestad G, Bill RG (1988) Quantification of thermal responsiveness of automatic sprinklers including conduction effects. Fire Saf J 14(1):113–125. https://doi.org/10.1016/0379-7112(88)90049-5

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Ruffino P, Dimarzo M (2003) The effect of evaporative cooling on the activation time of fire sprinklers. Fire Saf Sci 7:481–492. https://doi.org/10.3801/IAFSS.FSS.7-481

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Alpert RL (1972) Calculation of response time of ceiling-mounted fire detectors. Fire Technol 8:181. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02590543

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Alpert RL (2011) The fire-induced ceiling-jet revisited. In: 5th FireSeat symposium

  7. Heskestad G, Delichatsios MA (1979) The initial convective flow in fire. In: Symposium (international) on combustion, vol 17. Elsevier, pp 1113–1123

  8. Heskestad G, Delichatsios MA (1989) Update: the initial convective flow in fire. Fire Saf J 15(6):471–475. https://doi.org/10.1016/0379-7112(89)90017-9

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. McGrattan K, Hostikka S, Jason F, McDermott R, Vanella M (2022) Fire dynamics simulator user’s guide. NIST special publication 1019

  10. McGrattan K, Hostikka S, Jason F, McDermott R, Vanella M (2022) Fire dynamics simulator technical reference guide volume 3: Validation. NIST special publication 1018-3

  11. Hurley MJ, Munguia A (2009) Analysis of FDS thermal detector response prediction capability. NIST GCR 09-921

  12. Johansson N, Wahlqvist J, Van Hees P (2013) Simple ceiling jet correlation derived from numerical experiments. In: Proceedings of the 13th international interflam conference. Equation 9b and 9c have been revised in this manuscript due to misprint in the original. Interscience Communications Ltd, International Interflam Conference, Interflam. Conference date: 24–26 June 2013, pp 61–72

  13. Alpert RL (2016) In: Hurley MJ, Gottuk D, Hall JR, Harada K, Kuligowski E, Puchovsky M, Torero J, Watts JM, Wieczorek C (eds) Ceiling jet flows. Springer, New York, pp 429–454. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-2565-0_14

  14. Heskestad G (1984) Engineering relations for fire plumes. Fire Saf J 7(1):25–32. https://doi.org/10.1016/0379-7112(84)90005-5

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Heskestad G (2016) In: Hurley MJ, Gottuk D, Hall JR, Harada K, Kuligowski E, Puchovsky M, Torero J, Watts JM, Wieczorek C (eds) Fire plumes, flame height, and air entrainment. Springer, New York, pp 396–428. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-2565-0_13

  16. Beyler CL (1984) A design method for flaming fire detection. Fire Technol 20(4):5–16

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Madrzykowski D, Fleming RP (2002) Review of residential sprinkler systems: Research and standards. NISTIR 6941

  18. Khan MM, Tewarson A, Chaos M (2016) In: Hurley MJ, Gottuk D, Hall JR, Harada K, Kuligowski E, Puchovsky M, Torero J, Watts JM, Wieczorek C (eds) Combustion characteristics of materials and generation of fire products. Springer, New York, pp 1143–1232. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-2565-0_36

  19. EN 1991-1-2:2002 (2002) Eurocode 1: Actions on structures - Part 1-2: general actions - actions on structures exposed to fire

  20. (2013) C/VM2 verification method: framework for fire safety design. New Zealand

  21. Babrauskas V, Peacock RD (1992) Heat release rate: the single most important variable in fire hazard. Fire Saf J 18:255–272

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Direcció General de Prevenció, Extinció d’Incendis i Salvaments, Departament d’Interior, Generalitat de Catalunya, Av. Serragalliners, s/n, 08193, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Catalonia, Spain

    Ramon Toldrà

Authors
  1. Ramon Toldrà
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ramon Toldrà.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The author declares that he has no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

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

Appendix A Models Simulated with FDS

Appendix A Models Simulated with FDS

The geometry simulated with FDS is that of a \(16\times 12\times 6\) m\(^3\) room without lateral walls (open boundaries) and with a flat ceiling. The fire is located on a \(4 \times 4\) m\(^2\) platform raised from the floor between 0.5 m and 3.0 m. That provides a H changing from 3.0 m to 5.5 m. Using the constant HRRPUA method we have simulated a total of 16 models shown in Table 5, for every fuel. Using the constant surface method we have simulated as well a total of 16 models shown in Table 6, for every fuel. Finally Table 7 shows the combustion reaction properties.

Table 5 Models Simulated with FDS Using the Constant HRRPUA Method
Full size table
Table 6 Models Simulated with FDS Using the Constant Surface Method
Full size table
Table 7 Combustion Reaction Properties for FDS
Full size table

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Toldrà, R. Automatic Fire Sprinkler Activation Time with Quadratic Fire Growth. Fire Technol 59, 2645–2666 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10694-023-01441-4

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10694-023-01441-4

Keywords

Search

Navigation