Energy Balance in a Large Compartment Fire.
Energy Balance in a Large Compartment Fire.
(410 K)
Hamins, A.; Johnsson, E. L.; Donnelly, M. K.;
Maranghides, A.
Fire Safety Journal, Vol. 43, No. 3, 180-188, April
2008.
Sponsor:
Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC
Keywords:
compartment fires; energy balance; experiments;
computational fluid dynamics; validation; fire models;
equations; temperature; heat release rate; calorimetry;
oxygen consumption; heat loss; walls; ceilings; floors;
mass flux; heat flux; gas temperature; enthalpy; heat
loss; doorways
Abstract:
The National Institute of Standards and Technology
(NIST) and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) are
collaborating to assess and validate fire computer codes
for nuclear power plant applications. This evaluation is
being conducted through a series of benchmarking and
validation exercises. The goal of the present study was
to provide data from a large-scale fire test of a
simulated nuclear power plant cable room. The
experiments consisted of a hydrocarbon spray fire with a
1 MW heat release rate, burning in a single compartment
7 m wide, 22 m long, and 4 m high. Measurements included
the vertical temperature profiles, heat flux to the
compartment surfaces, the velocity and temperature at
the compartment doorway, and the total heat release
rate. From these measurements, an energy balance was
considered, in which it was determined that nearly 74%
of the fire's energy went to heat compartment surfaces,
22% escaped through the doorway, and 4% heated gases in
the compartment.
