• Fire Science and Engineering
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.15-23
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• 1997

A series of measurements and visualization to investigate the extingushiment of water sprays with pool fires is presented. Fire source is a small-scale pool burner with methanol, ethanol and gasoline. Measurements of temperature, O2, CO2, and CO concentrations along the plume centerline are carried out to observe pool structures without water sprays. Visualization by the Ar-ion laser sheet flow pattern of droplets of the sprays above the pool fires. It is observed than in the case of methanol and ethanol, water sprays continuously penetrate into the center of fuel surfaces. The gasoline pool fire allows intermittent penetration of water sprays because of pulsating characteristics of the gasoline flame. To evaluate the cooling effect of the fuel surface by the sprays, the temperature was measured at the fuel surface. As soon as the mists reach the fuel surface of methanol and ethanol, the temperatures of the fuel surface decrease rapidly below the boiling point, and then the fires are extinguished. Due to the application of mist upon the gasoline fire, though the fuel temperature decrease abruptly at the time of the injection, such a repid decrease do not continue till the extinction point.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.471-483
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• 1994

A sodium fire facility with a test chamber of 1.7㎥ volume was constructed and operated to carry out experiments of sodium fires such as pool, spray, and columnar fires which might take place in sodium-related facilities. The experimental results of pool fires showed that the increase of temperature and pressure in the test chamber was much smaller than that of spray and columnar fires even though their amount of sodium injection in the chamber was much larger compared to other types of fires. And it was found in pool fires that the temperatures of sodium pool and the gas temperature in the test chamber had been maintained much longer than other types of fires, and that the chamber pressure had come to vacuum due to depletion of the oxygen for a large amount of sodium injection in the chamber. The experimental results of spray fires showed that sprayed sodium of small particles instantly reacted with oxygen, and that its reaction heat increased gas temperature and pressure of the test chamber rapidly and decreased them shortly. And the maximum gas temperature and pressure of the test chamber in spray fires ore greatly changed according to the inlet sodium temperature in the test chamber. The characteristics of the columnar fires were almost similar to those of spray fires, but the maximum temperature and pressure of the test chamber were much smaller even for a large amount of sodium injection. And it was shown in spray and columnar fires that the temperatures at each measurement position in the test chamber were quite different due to the instantaneous sodium oxidation in comparision with pool fires. Finally, the graphex powder was proved to be a very effective extinguisher against sodium pool fires.

• Proceedings of the Korea Institute of Fire Science and Engineering Conference
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• 1997.11a
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• pp.518-525
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• 1997

A series of measurements and visualization to investigate the interaction of water sprays with pool fires is presented. Fire source is a small-scale pool burner with methanol, ethanol and gasoline. Measurements of temperatures, $O_2$, $CO_2$, and CO concentrations along the plume centerline are carried out to observe pool fire structures without water sprays. Visualization by the Ar-ion laser sheet shows flow pattern of droplets of the sprays above the pool fires. It is observed that in the case of methanol and ethanol, water sprays continuously penetrate into the center of fuel surfaces. The gasoline pool fire allows intermittent penetration of water sprays because of pulsating characteristics of the gasoline flame. To evaluate the cooling effect of the fuel surface by the sprays, the temperature was measured at the fuel surface. As soon as the mists reach the fuel surface of methanol and ethanol, the temperatures of the fuel surface decrease rapidly below the boiling point, and then the fires are extinguished. Due to the application of mist upon the gasoline fire, though the fuel temperature decrease abruptly at the time of the injection, such a rapid decrease do not continue till the extinction point.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.17 no.10
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• pp.914-921
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• 2005

In this study, the 1/20 reduced-scale experiment using Froude scaling were conducted to investigate the effect of longitudinal ventilation velocity on the burning rate in tunnel fires. The methanol pool fires with heat release rate ranging from 2.02 kW to 6.15 kW and the n-heptane pool fires with heat release rate ranging from 2.23 kW to 15.6 kW were used. The burning rate of fuel was obtained by measuring the fuel mass at the load cell. The temperature distributions were observed by K-type thermocouples in order to investigate smoke movement. The ventilation velocity in the tested tunnel was controlled by inverter of the wind tunnel. In methanol pool fire, the increase in ventilation velocity reduces the burning rate. On the contrary in n-heptane pool fire, the increase in ventilation velocity induces large burning rate. The reason for above conflicting phenomena lies on the difference of burning rate. In methanol pool fire, the cooling effect outweighs the supply effect of oxygen to fire plume, and in n-heptane pool vice versa.

• Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology
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• v.16 no.11
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• pp.1485-1496
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• 2002

In order to investigate the fire-induced smoke movement in a three-dimensional room with an open door, numerical and experimental study was performed. The center, wall, and corner fire plumes for various sized fires were studied experimentally in a rectangular pool fire using methanol as a fuel. The numerical results from a self-developed SMEP (Smoke Movement Estimating Program) field model were compared with experimental results obtained in this and from literature. Comparisons of SMEP and experimental results have shown reasonable agreement. As the fire strength became larger for the center fires, the air mass flow rate in the door, average hot layer temperature, flame angle and mean flame height were observed to increase but the doorway-neutral-planeheight and the steady-state time were observed to decrease. Also as the wall effect became larger in room fires, the hot layer temperature, mean flame height, doorway-neutral-planeheight and steady-state time were observed to increase. In the egress point of view considering the smoke filling time and the early spread of plume in the room space, the results of the center fire appeared to be more dangerous as compared with the wall and the corner fire. Thus it is necessary to consider the wall effect as an important factor in designing efficient fire protection systems.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.309-314
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• 2012

Flame flickering occurs mainly because of the buoyancy force for pool fires under ambient air. The cup-burner flame was used for experimental investigation of the effect of the oxidizer velocity on the gravitational instability. The results showed that the flickering frequency decreased with increasing oxidizer velocity. The frequency-buoyancy relation with nondimensional variables coincided with that of the buoyant flume and pool fires when the characteristic velocity was defined as the difference between the fuel and oxidizer velocities, which implies that the origin of the gravitational instability is the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability in the shear layer. The effect of the oxidizer composition on the instability was also examined through nitrogen dilution in the oxidizer stream. As the concentration of inert gas increased, the length of the blue flame increased and lift-off behavior was observed. The oscillation frequency was independent of the dilution ratio, but was related to the local flame structure.

• Fire Science and Engineering
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.60-67
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• 2010

Fire model shall be verified and validated to reliably predict the consequences of fires within its limitations. Generally the verification and validation procedures are conducted by comparison with experimental test data. This study aims to evaluate predictive capabilities of FDS in the pool fire with two rooms and the sensitivity between input parameters such as heat release rate and ventilation rate and the output values like temperature, concentration, and heat flux. The predictive capabilities of FDS will be evaluated by comparing FDS simulation results with PRISME experimental data which result from the international fire test project. The sensitivity analysis will be conducted to decide which one of input parameters affects outcomes by comparison of FDS results with ${\pm}$ 10% changes of input parameter. From this study, the FDS predictive capabilities are within 20% error range. Heat release rate as input parameter affects most of outcomes and flow rate only has relation with concentration of oxygen and combustion products.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2003.11a
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• pp.115-120
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• 2003

In this study, smoke movement in tunnel fires was investigated with various aspect ratio(0.5, 0.667, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0) of tunnel cross section. Reduced-scale experiments were carried out under the Froude scaling using 8.27 kW ethanol pool fire. Temperatures were measured under the ceiling and vertical direction along the center of the tunnel. Smoke front velocity and temperature decrease rate were reduced as higher aspect ratio of the tunnel cross-section. Smoke movement was evaluated by analysis of vertical temperature distribution 3 m downstream from the fire source. Elevation of smoke interface according to N percent rule was under about 60% of tunnel height.

• Proceedings of the Korea Institute of Fire Science and Engineering Conference
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• 2002.05a
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• pp.35-41
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• 2002

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.15 no.1 s.54
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• pp.55-60
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• 2005

In this study, the 1/20 reduced-scale experiments using Froude scaling were conducted to investigate the effect of longitudinal ventilation on the variation of burning rate in tunnel fires. The methanol square pool fires with heat release rate ranging from 3.57 kW to 10.95 kW were used. The burning rate of fuel was obtained by measured mass using load cell and temperature distribution were measured by K-type theomocouples in order to investigate smoke movement. The wind tunnel was connected with one side of the tested tunnel, and logitudinal ventilation velocity in the tested tunnel was controlled by power of the wind tunnel. In methanol fire case, the increase in ventilation velocity decreased the turning rate due to the direct cooling of fire plume. For the same dimensionless velocity(V), homing rate decreased as the size of pool fire increased.