Large-Scale Particle Image Velocimetry Measurements of a Fire-Induced Doorway Flow.
Large-Scale Particle Image Velocimetry Measurements of a
Fire-Induced Doorway Flow.
(162 K)
Bryant, R. A.; Johnsson, E. L.
Chemical and Physical Processes in Combustion.
Technical Meeting, 2005. Proceedings. Combustion
Institute/Eastern States Section. November 13-15, 2005,
Orlando, FL, 178-180 pp, 2005.
Keywords:
combustion; doorways; ventilation; fire behavior;
experiments; velocity; room burns
Abstract:
Quantifying the ventilation available to a room fire is
an important step to understanding fire behavior. The
fresh air that moves into an enclosure provides the
oxygen necessary to support the combustion while also
serving to moderate the temperature of the compartment.
The hot fire gases that move out of an enclosure
transfer heat and combustion products from the localized
point of the fire to remote locations within a built
structure. Mass flow rate is the parameter typically
used to quantify the ventilation for a fire within a
room. Due to the three
dimensional nature of flow through vents, a full mapping
of the velocity and density fields is necessary to
determine the mass flow rate. Early treatments
quantifying fire induced flow through vents relied on
Bernoulli's equation and a hydraulics-orifice approach,
therefore only a few well placed pressure and
temperature measurements were required. Later treatments
were improved by adding vertical arrays of pressure and
temperature measurements and scanning them across the
vents in order to address the three dimensional nature
of the flows.
Building and Fire Research Laboratory
National Institute of Standards and Technology
Gaithersburg, MD 20899