BFRL ICON Spray Cooling in Room Fires.

pdf icon Spray Cooling in Room Fires. (1794 K)
You, H. Z.; Kung, H. C.; Han, Z.

CIB W14/88/10 (USA); NBS GCR 86-515; 45 p. July 1986.

Combustion Institute, Symposium (International) on Combustion, 21st. August 3-8, 1986, Munich, West Germany, Combustion Inst., Pittsburgh, PA, 129-136 pp, 1986.

Sponsor:

National Bureau of Standards, Gaithersburg, MD

Available from:

National Technical Information Service

ON BOOK SHELF: QD516.S92 1988
Order number: PB86-247889

Keywords:

room fires; ceilings; compartment fires; carbon balance method; sprinklers; water sprays

Abstract:

A series of 25 fire tests were conducted to investigate cooling in room fires by sprinkler spray. All the fire tests were conducted in a 3.66 m x 7.32 m x 2.44 m high test room, which had a 1.22 m x 2.44 m high opening centered in one of the 3.66 m x 2.44 m high walls. The fire soure was a heptane spray fire with constant heptane flow rate opposite the room opening. In each test only one sprinkler was installed at the ceiling. Three geometrically similar sprinklers with nozzle diameters of 11.1 mm, 8.36 mm, and 6.94 mm were tested. Convective heat loss rate through the room opening was measured with a large fire products collector. The total heat release rate of the fire was derived from the fire products collector measurements using a carbon balance method. Empirical correlations for the heat absorption rate of the spray and the convective heat loss rate through the room opening were established in terms of 1) total heat release rate of the fire; 2) heat loss rate to the ceiling, walls, and floor; 3) radiative heat loss rate through the room opening; 4) room opening area and height; 5) sprinkler discharge rate; 6) water pressure; and 7) sprinkler orifice diameter. These correlations accounted for the effects of room geometry and opening size. Therefore, experimental results obtained for a different room geometry also followed these correlations.


Building and Fire Research Laboratory
National Institute of Standards and Technology
Gaithersburg, MD 20899