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Ventilation effect on the fire behavior in a vehicle engine compartment

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Abstract

This study investigates the impact of ventilation, specifically modeled by a radiator fan, on heptane pool fires within a military ground vehicle engine compartment. Experiments were conducted in a 2.44 m3 scale-1 compartment with varying fan-generated inflow velocities, initial fuel thicknesses, and pan diameters. The primary objective is to comprehensively assess how ventilation conditions affect pool fire behavior, focusing on properties such as mass loss rate, heat release, temperature, and heat flux in both the boiling and steady stages. The results reveal that the boiling stage occurs at initial fuel thicknesses of 10 and 15 mm, allowing us to analyze the boiling-to-steady ratio. This ratio exhibits variation across parameters. For burning duration, the ratios range from 0.45 to 0.93, while for mass loss rate, the ratios range from 2.3 to 3.5. Regarding total heat flux, the ratios span from 2.5 to 4. The boiling-to-steady ratio for temperature varies by position: in the vertical tree, it ranges from 1.1 to 1.7; in the ceiling tree, it ranges from 2.2 to 2.9; and in the ceiling side tree, it ranges from 1.2 to 2.25. Ventilation influences the boiling-to-steady ratio. Increasing inflow velocity generally increases the ratio for burning duration and ceiling tree temperature while decreasing the ratio for mass loss rate. The impact of ventilation on other properties depends on pan diameter and initial fuel thickness.

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Abbreviations

ACPH:

Air changes per hour

HRR:

Heat release rate

MLR:

Mass loss rate

NATO:

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization

NFPA:

National Fire Protection Association

PSD:

Power spectral density

STANAG:

Standardization agreement

MKE:

Mean kinetic energy

TKE:

Turbulent kinetic energy

1D:

One dimensional

Ap:

Fuel pan area (m2)

\(\Delta {H_{\text{c}}}\) :

The heat of combustion (kJ kg−1)

conc.:

Concentrations

DP:

Diameter of pan (cm)

f :

Flame oscillation frequencies

FH:

Fuel thickness (mm)

\(I(\% )\) :

Turbulent intensity (%)

\(M\) :

Molar mas

m :

Mass (gr or kg)

\(\dot m\) :

Mass loss rate (kg m−2 s−1)

\(\bar{\dot {m}}\) :

Mass loss rate average (kg m−2 s−1)

P1:

Position 1

P2:

Position 2

P3:

Position 3

\(P_{{\text{a}}}\) :

Ambient pressure (Pa)

\(P_{{\text{s}}}\) :

The saturation pressure of water vapor (Pa)

RH:

Relative humidity (%)

T :

Temperature (K or °C)

\(\overline{T }\) :

Temperature average (K or °C)

\(T_{{\text{a}}}\) :

Temperature ambient (K or °C)

t :

Time (s)

\(U_{in}\) :

Inflow velocity (m s−1)

\(u_{i}\) :

Instantaneous velocity (m s−1)

\(\overline{u}\) :

Mean velocity (m s−1)

\(u^{\prime}\) :

Turbulent velocity fluctuation (m s−1)

\(\dot{Q}\) :

Heat release rate (kW)

\(\overline{\dot{Q} }\) :

Heat release rate average (kW)

\(\dot{q}\) :

Heat flux (kW m−2)

\(\overline{\dot{q} }\) :

Heat flux average (kW m−2)

\(X\) :

Molar fraction

χ:

Efficiency of combustion

conv:

Convective

i:

Initial

ig:

Initial growth stage

f:

Fuel

bl:

Bulk boiling

rad:

Radiative

st:

Steady

tot:

Total

tr:

Transition

dc:

Decay

VT:

Vertical tree of thermocouples

CT:

Ceiling tree of thermocouples

CST:

Ceiling side tree of thermocouples

HFT:

Tree of heat flux sensor

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Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the support and funding from the French National Agency for Research (ANR) in the scope of the ANR LabCom GreenSprink (2018–2023) project, as well as the support from Campus France in the scope of the first author's PhD thesis grant (2020–2023).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. INSA Centre Val de Loire, Univ. Orléans, PRISME EA 4229, 18020, Bourges, France

    Soleh F. Junjunan, Antonin Robinet, Khaled Chetehouna & Nicolas Gascoin

  2. Rocket Technology Center - The National Agency for Research and Innovation of the Republic of Indonesia, ID-Bogor, 16350, Indonesia

    Soleh F. Junjunan

  3. EXEC SAS, 95190, Goussainville, France

    Axel Cablé

  4. DGA Techniques Terrestres, 18000, Bourges, France

    Antoine Oger

  5. Indonesia Defense University, ID-16810, Bogor, Indonesia

    Romie O. Bura

  6. Bandung Institute of Technology, ID-40132, Bandung, Indonesia

    Romie O. Bura

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  1. Soleh F. Junjunan
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  2. Antonin Robinet
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study's conception and design. SFJ, AR, KC, AC, and AO performed material preparation, data collection, and analysis. SFJ wrote the first draft of the manuscript, and all authors read, commented, and approved the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Soleh F. Junjunan.

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Junjunan, S.F., Robinet, A., Chetehouna, K. et al. Ventilation effect on the fire behavior in a vehicle engine compartment. J Therm Anal Calorim 149, 555–584 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10973-023-12660-w

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