Experimental and numerical studies of compartment fires

Abstract

Compartment fires are a major cause of property destruction, often resulting in firefighter injury or loss of life. Compartment fire behaviour training (CFBT) aims to equip firefighters with the necessary knowledge and skills for combating these hazardous fires, however the practical training is limited to a single scenario, that of a shipping container, This thesis provides accurate experimental data for a variety of compartment fires and validated numerical models, which are used to determine the feasibility of using the models to build an interactive database. Such a database would allow firefighters to safely examine a variety of building fires. To initially validate the numerical models for a fire scenario with a realistic fire load, an over-ventilated small enclosure was designed and built using solid fuel as the fire source. Five different configurations were examined with changes in fire location and increasing amounts of fuel. All experimental results were corrected for radiation effects and numerical models using Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS) were produced for each configuration with excellent agreement to within 10% for temperatures and trends in fire growth and decay. The shipping container demonstration cell used for CFBT was then considered. The demonstration cell has a higher aspect ratio and experienced far more radiation feedback making it experimentally and computationally more complex and is an ideal comparison as firefighters use it in their CFBT demonstrations. A series of six tests were developed with increasing amounts of fuel and changes in ventitat+on. Excelient agreernent was found between measured and FDS results. A final series of experiments were conducted in collaboration with the NSW Fire Brigade and NSW Police, using a house with modern furnishing. A total of seven different tests were completed in different rooms with a range of different fuel loads. Again each test was successfully modelled ssing FDS* These fires included flashorrer scenarios and hightigrhGd the dependence of temperatures not only on the amount of fuel present but also the importance of oxygen content. Finally it was determined that the validated CFD models produced would be the ideal foundation for a CFBT database. The important aspects of the database and options for its hardware and software development were explored. Such a tool would be an ideal accompaniment to GFBT allowing firefighters to examine compartment fires in a unique and instructive way.