Evolutions of gas temperature inside fire compartment and external facade flame height with a casement window

Author: Sun, X. P., Hu, L. H., Yang, Y., Ren, F., Fang, X.

Journal: Journal of Hazardous Materials

DOI:  10.1016/j.jhazmat.2019.120913

Keywords: Urban fire hazard and safety, Compartment fire, Casement window, Gas temperature inside compartment, Facade flame, heat fluxes, behavior, combustion, spread, probe, wall

Abstract: 

Gas temperature of a fire compartment and external facade flame height pose serious hazard upon urban environment and safety, where the window (ventilation) condition has an essential impact. This paper investigates their evolutions with a casement window of various opening angles, which has not been quantified previously although is commonly used practically. Experiments are conducted employing a model-scale fire compartment under different heat release rates with a casement window of various dimensions and opening angles. It is found that the upper-part gas temperature inside the compartment increases, while the critical heat release rate for flame ejection as well as the external facade flame height decreases, with increasing of the window opening angle as it is less than 60 degrees (theta < 60 degrees). Then, all these quantities change little as the window opening angle is further increased (theta >= 60 degrees). New non-dimensional models are proposed to describe the evolutions of these quantities based on the derived new length scale according to window dimensions and opening angle. This paper provides for the first time both essential data and new correlations for the gas temperature inside fire compartment and external facade flame height with a casement window.