Estimating the Environment and the Response of Sprinkler Links in Compartment Fires With Draft Curtains and Fusible Link-Actuated Ceiling Vents. Part 1. Theory.
Estimating the Environment and the Response of Sprinkler
Links in Compartment Fires With Draft Curtains and
Fusible Link-Actuated Ceiling Vents. Part 1. Theory.
(2765 K)
Cooper, L. Y.
NBSIR 88-3734; 37 p. April 1988.
Sponsor:
AAMA Research Foundation, Des Plaines, IL
Available from:
National Technical Information Service
Order number: PB88-215462
Keywords:
sprinklers; building fires; compartment fires; computer
models; algorithms; mathematical models; vents;
sprinkler response; zone models; ceiling vents
Abstract:
The physical basis and associated mathematical model for
estimating the fire-generated environment and the
response of sprinkler links in well-ventilated,
curtained compartment fires with fusible link-actuated
ceiling vents is developed. Complete equations and
assumptions are presented. Phenomena taken into account
include: the flow dynamics of the upward-driven,
buoyant fire plume; growth of the elevated-temperature
smoke layer in the curtained compartment; the flow of
smoke from the layer to the outside through open ceiling
vents; the flow of smoke below curtain partitions to
building spaces adjacent to the curtained space of fire
origin; continuation of the fire plume in the upper
layer; heat transfer to the ceiling surface and the
thermal response of the ceiling as a function of radial
distance from the point of plume-ceiling impingement;
the velocity and temperature distribution of
plume-driven near-ceiling flows and the response of
near-ceiling-deployed fusible links as functions of
distance below the ceiling and distance from
plume-ceiling impingement.
Building and Fire Research Laboratory
National Institute of Standards and Technology
Gaithersburg, MD 20899