Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process Industries 26 (2013) 1071e1084

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Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process Industries

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Assessment of four turbulence models in simulation of large-scale

pool fires in the presence of wind using computational fluid dynamics
(CFD)
S. Vasanth, S.M. Tauseef, Tasneem Abbasi*, S.A. Abbasi
Center for Pollution Control and Environmental Engineering, Pondicherry University, Chinnakalapet, Puducherry 605 014, India

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Pool fires are the most common of all process industry accidents. Pool fires often trigger explosions
Received 22 November 2012 which may result in more fires, causing huge losses of life and property. Since both the risk and the
Received in revised form frequency of occurrence of pool fires are high, it is necessary to model the risks associated with pool fires
5 April 2013
so as to correctly predict the behavior of such fires.
Accepted 5 April 2013
Among the parameters which determine the overall structure of a pool fire, the most important is
turbulence. It determines the extent of interaction of various parameters, including combustion, wind
Keywords:
velocity, and entrainment of the ambient air. Of the various approaches capable of modeling the tur-
Pool fire
CFD simulation
bulence associated with pool fires, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) has emerged as the most
Turbulence models preferred due to its ability to enable closer approximation of the underlying physical phenomena.
Flame shape A review of the state of the art reveals that although various turbulence models exist for the simulation
Combustion of pool fire no single study has compared the performance of various turbulence models in modeling
pool fires. To cover this knowledge-gap an attempt has been made to employ CFD in the assessment of
pool fires and find the turbulence model which is able to simulate pool fires most faithfully. The per-
formance of the standard ke3 model, renormalization group (RNG) ke3 model, realizable ke3 model and
standard keu model were studied for simulating the experiments conducted earlier by Chatris et al.
(2001) and Casal (2013). The results reveal that the standard ke3 model enabled the closest CFD
simulation of the experimental results.
Ó 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Fire is the most common type of accident encountered in chemical
process industries (CPI) which deal with production, transportation
and/or storage of flammable substances (Gomez-Mares, Zarate, &
Casal, 2008; Khan & Abbasi, 1996, 1998, 1999a, 1999b, 2000; Lees,
2005). Planas-Cuchi, Montiel, and Casal (1997) and Montiel,
Vílchez, Arnaldos, and Casal (1996), in their survey of accidents,
taken mainly from Major Hazards Incident Data System (MHIDAS),
conclude that the majority (approximately 42%) of all accidents in CPI
involve pool fires. Similar primacy of pool fire is revealed in a number
of other reports (Chang & Lin, 2006; Gomez-Mares et al., 2008; Khan
& Abbasi, 1999a; Tauseef, Abbasi, & Abbasi, 2010).
Of the different types of fire that may occur at a CPI e jet fire,
flash fire, fireball, and pool fire e great importance is attached to
* Corresponding author. Tel.: þ91 413 2655263; fax: þ91 413 2655262.
E-mail address: tasneem.abbasi@gmail.com (T. Abbasi).
pool fire as it is the most frequent, constituting more than 60% of all
the fire incidents (Persson & Lönnermark, 2004). Pool fire often
triggers explosions as also newer pool fires result from explosions
(Abbasi & Abbasi, 2007a, 2007b, 2007c; Abbasi, Pasman, & Abbasi,
2010; Abdolhamidzadeh, Abbasi, Rashtchian, & Abbasi, 2010a,
2010b; Tauseef et al., 2010). Pool fires can be very large and
persistent, difficult to douse. For example the pool fires that
occurred at Buncefield, UK, 2005 and, Jaipur, India, 2009 could not
be put off and raged for several days till their fuel burnt out
(Hailwood, Gawlowski, Schalau, & Schönbucher, 2009; The Hindu,
2009; Wikipedia, 2009).
A pool fire can occur when a flammable liquid is accidentally
released on ground or water, and ignites. A buoyancy-driven, tur-
bulent non-premixed flame is formed above the pool. The resulting
fire is distinguished from other types of fires by a very low initial
momentum and the propensity to be strongly influenced by
buoyancy effects (Lees, 2005). A Pool fire is sustained through the
supply of sufficient oxidants for combustion by the air entraining
into the flame. While this goes on, large toroidal vortex structures,

0950-4230/$ e see front matter Ó 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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1072 S. Vasanth et al. / Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process Industries 26 (2013) 1071e1084
Table 1
Experiments on single pool fires performed till present.
No. Fuel involved Study objectives and aspects covered
1 Commercial grade Objective: To study the flow induced by
methane a developing pool fire in a compartment.
Aspects covered: 1) mass flow rate
2) fire plume entrainment rate
2 Hydrocarbon Objective: To study the heat flux and
flame temperature of a large pool fire
in the presence of wind.
Aspects covered: 1) wind effect
2) flame temperature
3) heat flux
3 Crude oil, heptanes, Objective: To measure burning rate,
toluene, and kerosene external radiation, smoke emission and
concentration of CO and CO2 above the
flame tip so as to understand the
combustion characteristics of crude
oil pool fire.
Aspects covered: 1) burning rate
2) external radiation,
3) smoke emission
4) concentration of CO and CO2
4 Kerosene Objective: To study the flame geometry
in the presence of wind.
Aspect covered:flame geometry
5 Methanol Objective: To investigate the turbulent
structure of a medium-scale methanol
pool fire.
Aspects covered: 1) radial and axial
component of
velocities in the
flaming zones
2) temperature
6 Ethanol Objective: To study the temperature
distribution in forced ventilation fires
at pre flashover stage.
Aspects covered: 1) effect of ventilation
rate
2) heat release rate (HRR)
3) heat flux of the fire
4) flame shape
7 Gasoline and Objective: To analyze the transient
diesel periods at the beginning (fire
development) and end (fire extinction)
of the whole process, as well as the
determination of the average burning
rate during steady-state fire as a
function of pool-fire diameter.
Aspects covered: 1) burning rate
2) effect of wind speed on burning rate
8 Gasoline and Objective: To determine the flame
diesel emissivity in hydrocarbon pool fires
using infrared thermography.
Aspect covered:flame emissivity
9 JP-8 Objective: To measure in-situ soot
properties and species concentrations
in pool fires with JP-8 as the pool.
Aspects covered: 1) soot concentration
2) soot temperature
10 Methane Objective: To examine the effect of
fuel mass flux on the flow field of
methane pool fire using particle image
velocimetry (PIV) and compare it
with hydrogen fire.
Aspects covered: 1) turbulence
chemistry,
2) soot emission characteristics
3) heat flux variation
Gist of the experiment Reference
Forty-five steady-state flow experiments were conducted, (Steckler et al.,
in a room, representing different fire strengths 1982)
(31.6, 62.9, 105.3, and 158 kW). The lightweight walls
and ceiling of the room were covered with a ceramic fiber
insulation board to establish near-steady conditions
within 30 min following the ignition of 30 cm diameter
porous plate diffusion burner using methane as the fuel.
A series of pool fire tests were conducted in a 9.1 m  (Gregory et al.,
18.3 m  0.9 m concrete pool in which the test item was a 1989)
1.4 m diameter, 6.4 m long, mild steel calorimeter with a
mass of approximately 10,000 kg. Calorimeter supported by a
steel stand such that the bottom was 0.9 m above the initial
level of the fuel in accordance with centered within the
pool boundaries with its central axis aligned with the
east-west, or long side of the pool.
Crude oil, heptanes, toluene, and kerosene were burned in (Koseki &
circular pans of diameter 0.6 m, 1 m and 2 m and in a 2.7 m Mulholland, 1991)
square pan placed in an open area 24 m  24 m and under
a 20 m high ceiling.
A circular pool of diameter 20 m subject to cross wind of (Sinai & Owens,
4.52 m/s were used with kerosene as the fuel. 1995)
A modified overflow pan burner, 30.5 cm in diameter, (Weckman &
operated with a constant fuel feed system was used with Strong, 1996)
methanol as the fuel. The burner was mounted on a traversing
stand that allows radial and axial traverses of the fire flow field
to obtain measurements from the centerline to the edge of
the fire and from just above the liquid fuel surface to 3 pool
diameters (92 cm) above the liquid.
A total number of 28 tests divided into 4 cases of ventilation (Chow & Tsui,
condition were performed. Experiments were done inside a 1998)
small chamber using ethanol as the fuel. The chamber was of
length 1 m, width 0.6 m and height 1 m. There were two axial
fans installed at two square vents, each of size 0.24 m by
0.24 m, opposite to each other with one at a high level of
0.12 m below the ceiling and the other at a low level of 0.52
m (measured from the center of the fan) above the floor.
Three circular, concentric pools of 1.8, 7.1, and 12.6 m2, (Chatris et al.,
respectively of reinforced concrete were used with gasoline 2001)
and diesel as the fuel. The pool walls were designed to prevent
interference between the upper layer of fuel and the top of
the walls of the smaller pools. It was made possible by
having a different wall height for each pool. The pool
comprised a layer of water and a layer of fuel in each test.
Circular pools of diameter 0.13, 0.18 and 0.5 m were used (Planas-Cuchi
with gasoline and diesel oil as the fuel. et al., 2003)
Twelve tests were performed in total of which seven tests (Jeffrey & Christopher,
were conducted with the probe positioned close to the 2006)
centerline at heights above the pool surface ranging from
0.5 m to 2.0 m in 0.25 m increments. For the remaining five
tests, the probe was positioned at two heights 0.3 m from
the centerline and at three heights 0.5 m from the centerline.
Experiments were performed in a large building designed (Tieszen et al.,
for indoor fire experiments. The experimental chamber was 2004)
a 6.1 m cube, with a 1 m diameter burner and surrounding
floor plane located near the center of the facility.
 S. Vasanth et al. / Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process Industries 26 (2013) 1071e1084 1073

Table 1 (continued )

No. Fuel involved Study objectives and aspects covered Gist of the experiment Reference

11 JP-8 Objective: To characterize soot’s optical The interior dimensions of the facility were approximately (Jensen et al.,
properties, morphology, and 6 m  6 m  10 m. A controlled air source situated beneath 2005)
composition in 2 m pool fires the facility supplied inlet air at a known flow rate and
Aspects covered:Soot optical properties, turbulence intensity.
morphology, and
composition
12 Ethanol Objective: To study the critical velocity Experiments were performed in a tunnel model which was (Lee & Ryou,
with various aspect ratios (0.5, 0.667, 1/20 by the length full-scale tunnel. The full-scale tunnel was 2005)
1.0, 1.5, and 2.0) of the tunnel cross 208 m long. This corresponded to 10.4 m long in the model
section in tunnel fires. tunnel. The tunnels were made from transparent acryl of
Aspects covered:Temperature profile thickness 10 mm. The section near the fire source was made
inside the tunnel from fireproof gypsum board with a thickness of 10 mm to
protect against deformation from the heat. The cross
sections of tunnels were of rectangular shape, having the
same hydraulic diameter but different aspect ratios.
13 Hydrogenated Objective: To analyze the fire Tests were carried out in a 400 m3 reinforced concrete vessel (Prétrel & Such,
tetra-propylene scenario under two ventilation with 0.25 m thick walls. The vessel dimensions were 7.5 m 2005)
(TPH)/tri-butyl procedures and to point out the in height and 54 m2 in area. The flow inlet was located at the
phosphate (TBP) consequences on parameters key to lower part of the enclosure (1.5 m from the ground) and was
fire safety: the rate of combustion, directed toward the pool. The inlet cross-section was 0.4 m2.
the fire duration, the gas temperature, The pool consisted of a rectangular container filled with 50
and the pressure within the enclosure. mm of a liquid fuel mixture proportions 70% of TPH and 30%
Aspects covered: 1) rate of combustion of TBP by volume. It was positioned against a wall at an equal
2) fire duration distance from the two opposite sides. The fire was ignited
3) gas temperature with a propane burner directed toward the fuel surface.
4) pressure within the enclosure
14 Methanol Objective: To study the effects of a Experiments were carried out using circular pools with a (Woods et al.,
transverse air flow on the burning rate diameter of 16.9 cm. All the pools were milled from solid 2006)
of square and rectangular methanol aluminum trays with overall dimensions of 330 mm  330
pools experimentally. mm and 19 mm thick. The pools were 10 mm deep and had
Aspects covered: 1) size and shape three ports built into the bottom. The central port was used
of the pool to supply the fuel to the pool either prior to ignition or to
2) burning rate maintain the fuel level during the combustion. The other two
ports acted respectively as an emergency drain and as a
static pressure tap used to control the fuel supply system
and to keep the fuel level constant.
15 Gasoline and Objective: To analyze various features Five circular, concentric pools of 1.5 m, 3 m, 4 m, 5 m, 6 m, (Ferrero et al.,
diesel of thin-layer boilover in fires, in diameter were used with gasoline and diesel as the fuel. 2006)
particularly its intensity and onset time. In order to measure flame temperature, thermocouples
Aspects covered: 1) burning rate, were fixed at different positions on a metal structure built
2) boilover onset time, on a concrete base, 1 m from the outer pool. Furthermore,
3) pre boilover 10 K-type thermocouples, fixed at the pool’s axis at a distance
4) burned mass ratio of 2 mm from one another, were used to determine the
5) boilover intensity temperature of the two liquid phases and their interface.
16 Gasoline and Objective: To determine the burning Experiments on gasoline and diesel pools (1.5 m, 3 m, 4 m, (Muñoz et al.,
diesel rate, flame shape, and the emissive 5 m and 6 m) were conducted and experimental data were 2007)
power distribution. processed to obtain the values of burning rate, flame shape
Aspects covered: 1) burning rate, and size (diameter, length), emissive power and luminous/
2) flame shape non-luminous zones. Mathematical expressions were then
3) emissive power distribution obtained for calculating burning rate and flame length
(maximum and average). The agreement between values
obtained using these expressions and the experimental
data was fairly good.
17 Gasoline and Objective: To estimate the effects of Five concentric circular pools made of reinforced concrete (Ferrero et al.,
diesel thin-layer boilover on flame geometry (1.5 m, 3 m, 4 m, 5 m and 6 m in diameter) were employed 2007)
and dynamics in hydrocarbon fuel. with fuel layers ranging in depth from 15 to 25 mm. Two
Aspects covered: 1) flame length commercial hydrocarbons e gasoline and diesel e were
2) flame tilt burned: Furthermore, in one experiment, a mixture
3) flame pulsation comprising 50% gasoline and 50% diesel was used to test
the properties of a fuel comprised between these two
extremes and, at the same time, to test a fuel with a wider
ebullition range.
18 Industrial Objective: To study the interaction Compartments of dimension 1.8 m  1.2 m  1.2 m were (Pierce & Moss,
methylated between fire development, smoke used with industrial methylated spirits, heptanes and 2007)
spirits, heptanes production and radiative exchange kerosene as fuels. The standard way door had a width of
and kerosene in a compartment. 0.36 m. Doorway widths of 0.25 and 0.15 m were also
Aspects covered: 1) heat flux examined by partially obstructing the open area, of the
2) fuel mass loss rate standard doorway.
3) ventilation flow rates
4) temperature
5) soot volume fraction
(continued on next page)
1074 S. Vasanth et al. / Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process Industries 26 (2013) 1071e1084
Table 1 (continued )
No. Fuel involved Study objectives and aspects covered
19 n-Heptanes Objective: To analyze the influence of
low atmospheric pressure on carbon
monoxide of n-heptanes pool fires
qualitatively.
Aspect covered:combustion products
20 JP-8 and heptanes Objective: To demonstrate the efficiency
of the use of a time-series of laser extinction
data to determine the puffing frequency
in pool fires.
Aspect covered:puffing frequency
21 Heptanes isomer Objective: To understand the enthalpy
balance and the thermal environment in the
pool fire.
Aspects covered: 1) heat of combustion
2) combustion efficiency
3) radiative fraction
4) yields of soot, CO2 and CO
22 Heptane Objective: To study the design of effective
ventilation system that could ease the flow
of the smoke, consideration of the use of
exhaust fans (design the size) and also the
evolution of temperatures at different times
after the start of the fire.
Aspect covered:HRR
23 Gasoline Objective: To measure the flame emissivity
of gasoline pool fires.
Aspect covered:flame emissivity
which re-circulate at the vicinity of the flame, may be generated.
The occurrence of this oscillating phenomenon, also known as the
“puffing” effect, stems from the presence of coherent structures
above a fire plume. It, in turn, leads to vortex sheddingdespecially
through the formation of large flaming vortices that rise up until
they burn out at the top of the flame (Cheung, Lee, Yuen, Yeoh, &
Cheung, 2008).
One of the first attempts to study pool fires in controlled envi-
ronment was made by Portscht (1975). He studied the structure
and radiation properties of pool fires. Subsequent studies, which
have contributed to the overall understanding of pool fires, have
paid particular attention to burning rate (Chatris et al., 2001;
Ferrero, Muñoz, Kozanoglu, Casal, & Arnaldos, 2006; Koseki &
Mulholland, 1991; Muñoz, Planas, Ferrero, & Casal, 2007; Woods,
Fleck, & Kostiuk, 2006), thermal response (Gutiérrez-Montes,
Sanmiguel-Rojas, Kaiser, & Viedma, 2008; Koseki & Mulholland,
1991; Lees, 2005; Pierce & Moss, 2007; Planas-Cuchi, Chatris,
López, & Arnaldos, 2003; Portscht, 1975), wind effect (Chatris
et al., 2001; Gregory, Keltner, & Mata, 1989), flame characteristics
(Chow & Tsui, 1998; Ferrero, Munoz, & Arnaldos, 2007; Muñoz et al.,
2007; Steckler, Quintiere, & Rinkinen, 1982; Weckman & Sobiesiak,
1989); and soot properties (Hamins, Johnsson, Donnelly, &
Maranghides, 2008; Hamins, Yang, & Kashiwagi, 1992; Jeffrey &
Christoper, 2006; Jensen, Suo-Anttila, & Blevins, 2005; Pierce &
Moss, 2007; Tieszen, O’Hern, Weckman, & Schefer, 2004). An
overview of these studies is presented in Table 1.
Experiments performed in the course of these studies indi-
cate that puffing or flickering is a distinguishing behavior
occurring in free standing pool fires that alter the flame burning
in a periodic manner with a particular pulsation frequency. The
Gist of the experiment Reference
Different scale n-heptane pool fires were conducted in a small (Jun et al., 2008)
and a standard compartment room. The n-heptane pool fire
were done in square steel trays, whose areas were 133 cm2,
200 cm2, 325.5 cm2, 576 cm2 and 1100 cm2, and the tray height
was 5 cm. The small room was 2 m long, 4 m wide and 3.35 m
high, whose area and volume was characteristic of a typical
workroom. The standard combustion room was 10 m long,
7 m wide and 4 m high.
The pool fire pan was 76 mm high with diameter of about (Henriksen, Ring,
165 mm. Cooling water was run through a 13 mm shell Eddings, & Nathan,
surrounding the pool cavity. Fuel entered through a 6 mm 2008)
opening in the bottom of the pan and passed through a fuel
disperser. Thermocouples, located at radial distances of 25 mm
and 51 mm, corresponding to heights of 13 mm and 25 mm
from the bottom of the pan, reported the temperature of the
fuel within the pan to a data acquisition system.
The test compartment was 7.04 m  21.66 m  3.82 m in size, (Hamins et al.,
designed to represent a realistic-scale cable room in a nuclear 2008)
power plant. The total compartment volume was 582 m3.
A doorway of 2 m  2 m was located on the middle of the
west all (7.04 m) of the compartment.
Three tests were conducted which analyzed the air quality (Gutiérrez-Montes
and spread of the fire in the atria. The atria was covered by et al., 2008)
aluminum sheets of thickness 6 mm.
Circular pools of diameter 0.3 m, 0.34 m, 0.5 m, 0.7 m and (Sudheer & Prabhu,
1.0 m 2010)
with gasoline as the fuel were studied. Flame emissivity at a
height of 0.25 times the pool diameter from the base was
measured by observing the flame with reference to a black
body using infrared camera.
latter depends strongly on the fire bed characteristic length, and
the fuel flow rate. As pulsation frequency governs the air
entrainment into the flame, it imposes significant turbulent
fluctuations on the diffusion flame structure and interacts with
the rate of combustion, thermal radiation and soot formation
processes. Since all these processes are strongly interactive,
capturing turbulence effects becomes a key issue in the success
of pool fire modeling.
Of the various techniques available for turbulence modeling,
computational fluid dynamics (CFD) has emerged as a powerful one
with the potential to handle the complexities of turbulence asso-
ciated with pool fires.
Most CFD-based pool fire simulations rely on Reynolds-
averaged NaviereStokes (RANS) modeling (Steinhaus, Welch,
Carvel, & Torero, 2007). Of the various RANS-based turbulence
modelsdstandard ke3 model (Launder & Spalding, 1972), RNG ke3
model (Yakhot, Orszag, Thangam, Gatski, & Speziale, 1992), realiz-
able ke3 model (Shih, Liou, Shabbir, Yang, & Zhu, 1995), standard ke
u model (Wilcox, 1988), shear-stress transport (SST) keu model
(Menter, 1992), and Reynolds stress transport models (Speziale,
Sarkar, & Gatski, 1991)dthe standard ke3 model is the most
widely used despite its inability to adequately account for the
anisotropic nature of the turbulence generated in pool fires. A few
authors (Chow & Li, 2007; Liu & Wen, 2002; Zhang, Dembele, &
Wen, 2009) have studied other turbulence models, but have
restricted their studies to accessing one or two turbulence models
in conjunction with most widely used models for prediction of
radiation, combustion and soot formation. All these studies are
summarized in Table 2. Thus, no single study exists that has
attempted to find the most apt turbulence model, from among the

Table 2
Summary of the past work on CFD simulations of pool fires.
Reference
(Sinai & Owens, 1995)
(Novozhilov & Koseki, 2004)
(Chung, 2007)
(Wen et al., 2007)
(Chun, Wehrstedt, Vela,
& Schönbucher, 2009)
(Vela et al., 2009)
(Cheung & Yeoh, 2009)
S. Vasanth et al. / Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process Industries 26 (2013) 1071e1084
Models used
Turbulence e standard ke3 model
Combustion e eddy break-up model
Turbulence e standard ke3 model
Combustion e eddy break-up model
Radiation e Discrete Transfer Model (DTM)
Turbulence e standard ke3 model
Simple Gradient Diffusion Hypothesis
(SGDH) and the Generalized Gradient
Diffusion Hypothesis (GGDH) were
implemented in the standard ke3
model for the planar plume.
Turbulence e SGS model
Combustion e laminar flamelet and
mixture fraction
Radiation e gray, finite-volume
Turbulence e standard ke3 model
Combustion e eddy dissipation
combustion model
Radiation e DTM
Turbulence e buoyancy corrected ke3
turbulence models
Combustion e laminar flamelet model
Radiation e point source radiation model,
solid flame radiation models, two zone
radiation models.
Turbulence e SGS model
Combustion e subgrid scale (SGS) model
Brief description
The validation of the CFDS-FLOW3D code
with data from experiments involving
unconfined pool fire, of round 20 m
kerosene, in the presence of cross-wind
was reported. The study investigated the
effect of the pool shape, the bund, and
ambient turbulence on plume shape, and
found that all these parameters were
capable of affecting the plume shape
significantly.
A pool fire was modeled as an unsteady
process, from the time of ignition until
convergence to a quasi-steady burning
rate. Comparisons were made to a
number of experiments which include
burning rates for different fuels, total
and radiative flame feedback to the
burning surface.
Large Eddy Simulation (LES) turbulent
buoyant helium plumes was conducted
to determine plume instabilities and flow
dynamics, including velocity components
and plume concentration, as a function
of grid resolution as well as how the
results react with and without the use
of the SGS model.
Fire dynamics simulator (FDS) was
applied to simulate a medium-scale
methanol pool fire. The predictions using
two different combustion models for
temperature and axial velocity
distributions were done. The pulsating
nature of air entrainment was
demonstrated by the air entrainment
velocity fluctuations and the
instantaneous velocity vectors.
Instantaneous and time-averaged flame
temperatures, surface emissive power
and time-averaged irradiances of DTBP
pool fires with d ¼ 1.12 and 3.4 m were
investigated experimentally and by
CFD simulation.
Two set of CFD simulations were done
for a large-scale JP-4 pool fires. First was
done for pool diameters of 2 m, 8 m,
16 m, 20 m, and 25 m in calm condition.
Second was done with pool diameters of
2 m, 20 m, and 25 m under cross-wind
conditions with wind velocities (uw) in
the range of 0.7 m/s < uw < 16 m/s.
The temporal vertical structures of a
large-scale buoyant pool fire were studied
using a fully-coupled LES model which
incorporates all essential phenomena
turbulence, combustion, radiation and
soot chemistry considerations.
1075
Results
The predicted flame shape compares
well with the experiment when the
modeled pool shape was similar to
that of the experiment.
Quite reasonable agreement was
demonstrated between experiments
and computations, given the
discrepancies that exist between
different sets of experimental data.
The average error in the burning
rate predictions was around 17%.
For the planar plume, good
agreement with the experimental
data was found when the SGDH
approach was used.
The predictions of the two different
combustion models for temperature
and axial velocity distributions were
found to be in reasonably good
agreement with each other and the
experimental data.
Predicted centerline temperature
profiles for d ¼ 1.12 m were in good
agreement with the experimental
emission temperature profiles for
x/d > 0.9.
For d ¼ 3.4 m the CFD predicted
maximum centerline temperature
at x/d ¼ 1.4 was 1440 K whereas
the emission temperature
experimentally determined from
thermograms at x/d z 1.3 was 1560 K.
The predicted surface emissive
power for d ¼ 1.12 m was
115 kW/m2 in comparison to the
measured surface emissive power
of 130 kW/m2 whereas for
d ¼ 3.4 m these values are 180 and
250 kW/m2. The predicted distance
dependent irradiances agree well
with the measured irradiances.
Pool diameter dependence was in
agreement with experiments in
most cases.
CFD predicted flame tilt for JP-4
pool fire with diameters 2 m and
20 m showed good agreement with
the experimental data.
The predicted time-averaged
velocity and temperature profiles
were in good agreement with the
experimental data.
(continued on next page)
1076 S. Vasanth et al. / Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process Industries 26 (2013) 1071e1084

Table 2 (continued )

Reference Models used Brief description Results

(Chuah, Kuwana, & Saito, 2009)
Turbulence e standard ke3 model
A series of laboratory-scale fire whirl The flame height prediction compared
experiments spinning 5 cm diameter favorably with results from the scaling
methanol pool fires were conducted. analysis and the experiment.
The elongated flame height was
compared with the pool fire without
spin. A simple scaling analysis was
conducted to obtain dependency of the
axial flame height on the momentum-
controlled circulation and the effect
of buoyancy.

various available turbulence models, for successful simulation of a 2. Methodology

pool fire.
Given this context, these authors felt the need for a study to
access the strengths and weaknesses of the various RANS-based
turbulence models in the simulation of pool fire. We have used
the experimental findings of Chatris et al. (2001) and Casal (2013)
to test the efficiency of the CFD simulation, for the following
reasons:
1) The experiment takes into account the effect of the presence of
wind, which not only enhances the burning rate of the pool
fires but also increases the risk posed to the equipment and the
personnel downwind of the fires. The direct impingement of
the fire and/or increase in the radiative heat flux adds an extra
degree of vulnerability to the equipment downwind of the pool
fire (Ferrero et al., 2007).
2) It contains elaborate documentation of the burning rate of the
fire, which further enhances the utilizability of the data
because the burning rate is a good indicator of the turbulence
generated by the air entraining into the pool fire.
Fig. 1. Geometry with grid used.
Four turbulence models e standard ke3, RNG, realizable, and
standard keu models e were employed in simulating the pool fire
behavior in the presence of cross wind. The finite-volume method
was used for the second order discretization of the governing
equations. P1 radiation model also known as Gibb’s model (Raithby,
1991) was used for modeling the radiation. The SIMPLE (Semi-
Implicit Method for Pressure-Linked Equations) algorithm was
used for pressure velocity coupling (Blazek, 2001; Versteeg &
Malalasekera, 2007).
In the experiment done by Chatris et al. (2001) and Casal (2013),
of which the findings have been used by us, the behavior of a typical
pool fire in the presence of wind had been studied. The experiment
was performed in a 3 m pool with diesel as the fuel. A weather
station located at a height of 10 m continuously monitored ambient
temperature, atmospheric pressure, relative humidity, wind di-
rection, and wind speed. Flame temperatures were measured both
axially and radially. Burning rate was measured through the vari-
ation in the fuel level by using a balance.
The use of circular fuel pan and the presence of constant wind
velocity during the experiment performed by Chatris et al. (2001)
and Casal (2013), resulted in a symmetric pool fire. This allowed
us to perform the simulation using 2D geometry. A 2D domain
163 m  100 m was set with the pool centered at (81.5, 0), as shown
in Fig. 1. Choice of 2D geometry facilitated the use of comparatively
finer mesh than would have been possible had a 3D geometry was
chosen. The domain was configured using quadrilateral mesh; the
mesh size was small near the fuel pool and become progressively
larger as one moved toward the domain boundaries. In this manner
regions of sharp change were covered with finer mesh and coarser
mesh was employed elsewhere. This enabled adequate detailing of
the domain without increasing the number of cells beyond an
optimal number. In turn it made it possible to keep the requirement
of computational time down to the essential minimum. The total
number of nodes that resulted from meshing of the domain was 2,
22,481.
The relatively large scale employed in the present study ensures
that the proportion of the impacts of domain boundaries in terms of

Table 3
Comparison of various turbulence models.

Aspect Standard ke3 model RNG ke3 model Realizable ke3 model Standard keu model Experimental finding
(Casal, 2013; Chatris et al., 2001)

Angle of deviation of the flame 45 52 53 46 35

under effect of wind
Temperature (K) 1746 1896 2260 2199 1400
Velocity (m/s) 17.83 21.34 17.90 28.93 e
Average emissive power (W/m2) 30,265 1,51,158 88,316 1,25,761 55,000a
a
Muñoz et al. (2007).
 S. Vasanth et al. / Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process Industries 26 (2013) 1071e1084 1077

Fig. 2. Isotherm at 400e1000 K showing the outline of the pool fire obtained using the four turbulence models e (a) standard ke3 model, (b) RNG ke3 model, (c) realizable ke3
model, (d) standard keu model, and (e) the flame shape observed during the experiment done by Chatris et al. (2001) and Casal (2013).

pressure gradient and back flow are reduced to a minimum in the
overall computation.
2.1. Boundary conditions
The conditions imposed at different boundaries, marked AeE
(Fig. 1) were as follows.
2.1.1. Boundaries A and B
Since flow velocity and/or flow rate were not known at the side
boundaries marked A and B (Fig. 1) and they were at a great dis-
tance from the pool fire epicenter, it was assumed that the pressure
is atmospheric at the boundaries (gauge pressure set to zero). This
assumption allows the estimation of inlet velocity using Bernoulli’s
equation, and enables the calculation of other flow variables, too.
2.1.2. Boundary C
The wind velocity profile at the boundary C is defined using the
power law correlation, given by Equation (1) to take into account
the reduction of wind speed near the ground level due to frictional
effects:
 
y l
uy ¼ u0  (1)
y0
where uy is the wind speed at elevation (y); u0 is the wind speed at
the reference height y0; l is a dimensionless parameter, the value of
which depends upon atmospheric stability category and surface
roughness. The values of u0 and y0 in the present case are 2.72 m/s
and 10 m respectively. The average size of roughness protrusions in
the ground surface was assumed as 0.005 m. The same value has

Fig. 3. Iso surface of species concentration of diesel at molar concentration of 0.0005 showing the flame tilt of the pool fire obtained using the four turbulence models e (a)
standard ke3 model, (b) RNG ke3 model, (c) realizable ke3 model, (d) standard keu model, and (e) the flame shape observed during the experiment done by Chatris et al. (2001) and
Casal (2013).
1078 S. Vasanth et al. / Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process Industries 26 (2013) 1071e1084

Fig. 4. Comparison of instantaneous temperature (K) profiles, for the stable flame after 60 s, predicted using four turbulence models e (a) standard ke3 model, (b) RNG ke3 model,
(c) realizable ke3 model, (d) standard keu model.

been used earlier by others for flat and barren land (Sklavounos &
Rigas, 2004; Tauseef, Rashtchian, & Abbasi, 2011). Based on the
description of the experiment, stability class ‘B’ which corresponds
2500 to moderately unstable atmospheric conditions, was assumed.
Accordingly l was set to 0.07.

2000 2.1.3. Boundary D

This refers to the impermeable surface represented by the
ground. A no-slip condition was imposed for this, because viscous
1500 fluids will have zero velocity relative to this solid boundary.
Temperature (K)

standard ke
RNG 2.1.4. Boundary E
1000 realizable The pool is modeled such that the diesel vapors enters the
standard kw domain from a 3 m diameter pool with a mass flux of 0.045 kg/m2 s
(SFPE, 2002). The temperature at this boundary was set at 427.3 K,
500
which is the boiling point of diesel.

0 3. Results and discussion

0 20 40 60 80 100
Position (m)
After setting the boundary conditions and selecting appropriate
Fig. 5. Comparison of radial distribution of temperature predicted by four turbulence models consistent with the physics of pool fire burning, mass, en-
models. ergy, and momentum equations alongside combustion and

Fig. 6. Reaction (kg mol/m3 s) profile predicted using standard ke3 model.
Fig. 7. Superimposed average velocity and temperature profiles predicted using standard ke3 model.

Fig. 8. Superimposed average velocity and temperature profiles predicted using RNG ke3 model.

Fig. 9. Superimposed average velocity and temperature profiles predicted using realizable ke3 model.
1080 S. Vasanth et al. / Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process Industries 26 (2013) 1071e1084

Fig. 10. Superimposed average velocity and temperature profiles predicted using standard keu model.

radiation models were solved using the four different turbulence
models in 2D space limited by the domain boundary. It was
observed that the flames become stable after 60 s in all the four
simulations.
In all the four simulations, the problem was initially solved in
steady state to obtain initial value for the transient simulation. The
steady-state runs converged after 100e120 iterations. The conver-
gence criterion was set as the residual RMS (root mean square)
becoming equal or less than 104 (Ferziger & Peric, 1996). After
obtaining steady-state wind and turbulence profiles at the start of
the experiment the pool fire burning was simulated as a function of
time. The transient run required about 150 iterations per time step
to reach the desirable residual value. Total time required for the full
simulation was approximately 72 h for all the four simulations on a
2.13 GHz Intel core i3 processor with 3 GB RAM.
The results of CFD simulations along with the results of exper-
iments performed by Chatris et al. (2001) and Casal (2013) are
summarized in Table 3. For parameters not reported by Chatris et al.
(2001) and Casal (2013), the results are compared with data from
similar experiments reported by others.
good agreement with the experimentally observed flame shape
(Fig. 2(e)). The flame shapes predicted by RNG ke3 model (Fig. 2(b))
and realizable ke3 model (Fig. 2(c)) are also similar to the experi-
mentally observed flame shape, (Fig. 2(e)) but their prediction of
the angle of tilt differs: the angle of tilt as computed using the
standard ke3 model is 43 , RNG ke3 model is 47, realizable ke3
model is 47, and standard keu model is 32 (Fig. 3). The angle,
estimated by us, on the basis of data reported by Casal (2013) is 35
(Table 3). Even though flame tilt predicted by standard keu model
is close to the experimental flame tilt, the flame shape predicted by
it differs significantly from the experimental flame shape reported
by Chatris et al. (2001) and Casal (2013) indicating that the stan-
dard ke3 model provides the closest fit. Under the effect of wind
blowing from the right side to the left side of the pool at a speed of
about 2.72 m/s, it was observed that the flames were tilted
toward left in all the four simulations.
3.2. The temperature profile
The instantaneous temperature profiles predicted using the four
turbulence models for stable flames after 60 s of commencement of

3.1. The flame shape and flame tilt

30

Fig. 2 presents a comparison of the flame shapes obtained using

the four turbulence models with that observed during the experi-
25
ments done by Chatris et al. (2001) and Casal (2013). The isotherms
in the range 400e1000 K were plotted to arrive at the flame shapes
obtained using the four turbulence models (Fig. 2(a)e(d)); the 20

400e1000 K range was employed as it has been used earlier by

Velocity magnitude (m/s)

others for representation of flame shape (Vela et al., 2009). standard ke

15
Fig. 3(a)e(e) presents a comparison of the flame tilt obtained using RNG
the four turbulence models with that observed during the experi- realizable

ments done by Chatris et al. (2001) and Casal (2013). Wade and 10 standard kw

Gore (1996) have defined the chemical flame height as the dis-
tance at which the axial gas species concentration in terms of mole
5
fraction dropped to 0.0005. The height of the flame was found by
plotting the mole fraction of diesel in the computational domain as
a function of xey co-ordinates. The angle between the line joining 0
0 50 100 150 200
the peak of the flame to the center of the pool and the vertical line
Position (m)
passing through the center of the pool gives the angle of tilt (Vela
et al., 2009) as shown in Fig. 3(a)e(d). It is observed that the Fig. 11. Comparison of radial distribution of average velocity predicted by four tur-
flame shape predicted by the standard ke3 model (Fig. 2(a)), is in bulence models.
 S. Vasanth et al. / Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process Industries 26 (2013) 1071e1084 1081

Fig. 12. Incident radiation profile predicted using standard ke3 model.

fire, are shown in Fig. 4(a)e(d). The radial temperature distribution
along the horizontal line passing through the point, in the 2D
domain, where the maximum temperature was predicted using the
four turbulence models, is shown in Fig. 5.
The maximum flame temperature (Tmax) forecast by the stan-
dard ke3, RNG ke3, realizable ke3, and standard keu models is
1746 K, 1896 K, 2260 K and 2199 K respectively. In the experiments
conducted by Chatris et al. (2001) and Casal (2013) the Tmax was
1400 K. The forecast based on the standard ke3 is closest to this
figure. In contrast Tmax predicted by the other three models is much
higher than the value reported by Chatris et al. (2001) and Casal
(2013).
In the reaction profile predicted using standard ke3 model
(Fig. 6), it is seen that zone of combustion spreads almost hori-
zontally across the fuel surface from the pan rim toward the fire
centerline. The flame near the pan undergoes flapping motions, as
observed in the animation of the simulated pool fires, due to the
convection arising as a result of the continuous mixing occurring
between the flame surface and the air that is blowing. Similar
behavior is predicted by other turbulence models also. The

Fig. 13. Incident radiation profile predicted using RNG ke3 model.
1082 S. Vasanth et al. / Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process Industries 26 (2013) 1071e1084

Fig. 14. Incident radiation profile predicted using realizable ke3 model.

simulation is consistent with the experimental results of Chatris
et al. (2001) and Casal (2013).
3.3. Velocity profile
Figs. 7e10 show the velocity and temperature profiles
superimposed over one another, as predicted using the four
turbulence models. It can be seen that strong entrainment of air
takes place near the base of the pool fire. This drives the
chemical reaction that occurs between the fuel and the air at the
edges of the fuel container. The vortices that are formed as a
result of the combustion process, driven by the combined effect
of molecular mixing and buoyancy, move upward while evolving.
This results in a relatively high average velocity at the center. The
air flow causes more and more air to move into the flame,
thereby enhancing the rate of combustion. The velocity profile of
the pool fire was not determined by Chatris et al. (2001) and
Casal (2013) but observations similar to ones resulting from our
simulations have been reported by several other authors (Sinai &
Owens, 1995; Vela et al., 2009; Wen, Kang, Donchev, &
Karwatzki, 2007).
The average velocity profiles predicted by four turbulence
models are shown in Fig. 11. The maximum velocity (Vmax) pre-
dicted by each of the four turbulence models for the stable flame is:
standard ke3 17.83 (m/s); RNG ke3 21.34 (m/s); realizable ke3 17.90
(m/s); and standard keu 28.93 (m/s).

Fig. 15. Incident radiation profile predicted using standard keu model.
 S. Vasanth et al. / Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process Industries 26 (2013) 1071e1084
3.4. Radiation
For the four simulations done using different turbulence
models, the radiation load was computed using P1 radiation model.
The profiles are shown in Figs. 12e15. It is seen that the incident
radiation which is a volumetric quantity giving the total radiant
load passing through the cell (in all directions), is higher near pool
surface than in the rest of the domain. This can be attributed to two
factors: the first, and the more important, being the flame tem-
perature which is high near the pool surface and decreases in the
upper parts of the domain. The second factor is flame shape. The
simulations could not be compared with experimental findings
because radiation profile of the pool fire was not studied by Chatris
et al. (2001) and Casal (2013).
The average emissive power predicted by each of the four tur-
bulence models for the stable flame is: standard ke3 model 30,265
(W/m2); RNG ke3 model 1, 51,158 (W/m2); realizable ke3 model
88,316 (W/m2); and standard keu model 1, 25,761 (W/m2). Even
though radiation is not discussed by Chatris et al. (2001) and Casal
(2013), in a similar 3 m pool fire experiment done by Muñoz et al.
(2007) using diesel as the fuel, the average emissive power was
reported as 55,000 (W/m2). The forecast based on the standard ke3
model (30,265 W/m2) is closest to the data generated by Muñoz
et al. (2007).
4. Conclusion
1) Based on the experiments conducted by Chatris et al. (2001)
and Casal (2013), a pool fire was simulated using CFD code.
After defining the computational domain, setting the boundary
conditions, and choosing models consistent with the physics of
pool fire burning, simulations were done using four turbulence
models: the standard ke3; the RNG ke3; the realizable ke3; and
the standard keu models.
2) The flame shape, flame tilt, and temperature profile, predicted
using the four turbulence models were compared with the
findings of the experiment reported by Chatris et al. (2001) and
Casal (2013). The standard ke3 model provided the closest fit
with experimentally observed temperature profile, flame
shape and flame tilt.
3) The velocity profile of the pool fire was not determined by
Chatris et al. (2001) and Casal (2013) but observations similar
to the ones resulting from our simulations have been reported
by several other authors (Sinai & Owens, 1995; Vela et al., 2009;
Wen et al., 2007). The superimposition of velocity and tem-
perature profile predicted using the four turbulence models
shows strong coupling between the combustion process and
the developed velocity profile.
4) For the simulations done using different turbulence models the
radiation load was computed using the P1 radiation model. The
radiation was not determined by Chatris et al. (2001) and Casal
(2013) hence the radiation predicted by our simulations was
compared with the results of a similar experiment reported by
Muñoz et al. (2007). It is seen that the prediction based on the
standard ke3 model is closest to the reported experimental
value.
5) Overall, simulations using standard ke3 model are seen to
provide closet fit with the observed temperature profile, flame
shape, flame tilt and radiation load.
Acknowledgment
SMT thanks the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research
(CSIR), New Delhi for Senior Research Associateship. We thank the
reviewer for helpful comments.
1083
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