TEKNOLOGIAN TUTKIMUSKESKUS VTT OY

Fire suppression

Rak-43.3520, Fire Simulation

Jukka Vaari
What is combustion?

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What is combustion?

Combustion is the exothermic chemical reaction between

oxygen and fuel
Combustion is associated with
Consumption of oxygen and
fuel
Formation of new chemical
compunds (products)
Release of heat
Soot production
Light emission
Combustion occurs mostly in
the gas phase

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What is fire extinguishment?

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Why is the fire extinguished?

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Why is the fire extinguished?

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Question

Why can rockets fly in space?

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Question

Why can rockets fly in space?

http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/review/dr-marc-technology/rockets.html
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Question

How can you extinguish a fire on a space station?

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Question

How can you extinguish a fire on a space station?

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Question
Why can you blow out a candle?

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Why do you have to blow hard?

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What is the essential difference?

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Fuel gasification requires heat

HEAT
Heating of fuel-air mixture
to ignition temperatures

Gasification

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I smell gas – but why no explosion?

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Answer 1: no ignition energy

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 Answer 2: wrong mixture

CH4 + 2O2 CO2 + 2H2O

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Mixture and chemical equation

Methane combustion is usually written as

CH4 + 2O2 CO2 + 2H2O

Methane stoichiometric combustion in air (21% O2, 79% N2)

CH4 + 2O2 + 7.52N2 CO2 + 2H2O + 7.52N2

Methane combustion in air at lower flammability limit (5% CH4)

0.05CH4 + (1-0.05)(0.21O2 + 0.79N2) products
CH4 + 4O2 + 15N2 CO2 + 2H2O +2O2 + 15N2

Cold mixture Hot mixture

Heating

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FDS: gas phase extinguishment

&REAC parameters
CRITICAL_FLAME_TEMPERATURE (default 1427 ºC)
AUTO_IGNITION_TEMPERATURE (default 0 ºC)

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FDS: liquid and solid phase extinguishment

What is the pre-requisite for simulating the suppression effect of

water on a surface

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Option 1: an empirical model

Fuel mass flux depends on the amount of water on the burning

surface (kg/m2)
User must supply the parameter E_COEFFICIENT

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Option 2: pyrolysis model

Fuel gasification rate depends on surface temperature

Solid phase: Arrhenius kinetics
Liquid phase: Clausius-Clapeyron equation & Stefan diffusion
Heat transfer between a water droplet on a surface and the
surface affects surface temperature and therefore pyrolysis rate

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Automatic (fire) sprinkler

Nozzle with a thermally sensitive sealing device which opens to

discharge water for fire fighting

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Temperature rating and thermal sensitivity

Color of the glass bulb indicates activation temperature

Thickness of the glass bulb is related to thermal sensitivity

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Atomization and spray pattern

The deflector plate atomizes the water and defines the shape of
the spray pattern

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Hydraulic dimensioning
Density (mm/min)
2.9
2.0 4.1 6.1 8.1 10.2 12.2 14.3 16.3
5000 465

EH1 EH2
Area of sprinkler operation (ft2)

Area of sprinkler operation (m )

2
4000 372
OH4
EUR

OH1 OH2
3000 279
HHP1 HHP2 HHP3
EUR EUR EUR
2500 232
LH OH3
EUR
2000 186
OH2
1500 EUR
139
0.20 0.25 0.30 0.35 0.40
1000 93 Density (gpm/ft )
2
LH OH1
EUR EUR
500 47
0.05 0.10 0.15 Increasing risk requires a larger water
0.07
0.05
density over a larger area

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Water spray definition in FDS (example)

&DEVC XYZ=0.0, 0.0, 2.5

QUANTITY='TIME'
SETPOINT=0.0
PROP_ID=‘MY NOZZLE' /

&PROP ID=‘MY NOZZLE'

OFFSET=0.05
PARTICLES_PER_SECOND=5000
PART_ID='WATER DROPLETS'
OPERATING_PRESSURE= 70.0000
K_FACTOR= 0.35
PARTICLE_VELOCITY=110.0
SPRAY_ANGLE=0.0, 10.0 /

&PART ID='WATER DROPLETS'

SPEC_ID='WATER VAPOR‘
DIAMETER=80.
GAMMA_D=2.4 /

&SPEC ID='WATER VAPOR' /

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Excercise: suppression of a residential fire
Wood crib over
Plywood walls Foam slabs a heptane pool

Cotton wicks soaked in heptane

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Tasks

Examine the input file Room_fire.fds

How are the different parts of the fire load described?
How is ventilation arranged in the room?
Run the case and save the results.
Add a residential sprinkler to the input file and run the case (sprinkler
definition on the next slide)
In the same graph, plot the HRR curves with and without the residential
sprinkler.
In the same graph, plot sprinkler temperature and gas temperature next to
the sprinkler. Why is there a difference?
Compare the vertical gas temperature distribution in the simulations. How
does the sprinkler affect the possibility of humans evacuating the room?
Examine the sprinkler water distribution on the floor and on the walls.
What is the operating principle of a residential sprinkler?
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Residential sprinkler definition
Location Mid-room, 3 cm below ceiling surface
Activation temperature 68 ºC
Thermal sensitivity 36 (m·s)1/2
Conductivity factor 0.25 (m·s)1/2
K factor 71 l/min/bar1/2
Operating pressure 0.55 bar
Droplet initial velocity 10 m/s
Droplets per second 10000
Spray angle 0-90º
Droplet density distribution Gaussian
Angle of maximum density 90º
Droplet median volume diameter 1000 µm

In addition: record the accumulated water mass per unit surface area
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