Effect of Pool Diameter on the Properties of Smoke Produced by Crude Oil Fires.
Effect of Pool Diameter on the Properties of Smoke
Produced by Crude Oil Fires.
(762 K)
Mulholland, G. W.; Liggett, W.; Koseki, H.
Combustion Institute, Symposium (International) on
Combustion, 26th. Proceedings. Volume 1. July
28-August 2, 1996, Napoli, Italy, Combustion Institute,
Pittsburgh, PA, 1445-1452 pp, 1996.
Keywords:
combustion; crude oil; carbon balance method; fire
research; oil spills; sphere sizes; smoke production;
smoke yield; spill fires
Abstract:
The smoke production from the burning of crude oil was
investigated for a 1-m-diameter pan and for a 2.7 x
2.7-m pan, which is the largest pan used within a fire
test facility for smoke characterization. The smoke
yield was measured using the carbon balance method by
two different procedures: one involved continuous
sampling to gas analysis equipment, and the second used
a portable, airborne-smoke-sampling package (ASSP). The
advantages and limitations of the carbon balance method
are addressed. The smoke yield increased by ca. 50%,
from 0.100 to 0.148, as the pan size increased. These
results are compared with other studies ranging in scale
from a pool diameter as small as 8.5 cm to those as
large as the 12-m crude oil "spill" fires and the 100-m
pool fires set during the 1991 war in Kuwait. Possible
causes for the factor-of-5 lower yield measured for the
Kuwait oil-well fires, compared to the larger pool fires
measured in this study, are examined. The primary
sphere size of the smoke was measured by transmission
electon microscopy (TEM). It was found that the
diameter of the primary spheres incresed by ca. 80%,
from 58 nm to 106 nm, as the pan size increased. This
scale dependence of the primary sphere size is discussed
in light of recent studies concerning smoke formation.
Building and Fire Research Laboratory
National Institute of Standards and Technology
Gaithersburg, MD 20899