Experimental investigation on the spread of aqueous foam over ethanol surface

The presence of ethanol has an adverse effect on foam spreading,and ethanol fire is difficult to extinguish with aqueous fire-fighting foams.Thus,it is necessary to explore the foam formulation suitable for ethanol fuels and study the spreading behavior of foam over ethanol surface.In the current work,stable foams based on hydrocarbon surfactant(SDS),fluorocarbon surfactant(FC1157),and polymers(XG)were prepared by using the compressed-air foam system.The spreading behaviors of foam on polar ethanol and non-polar heptane surface were observed and compared.Furthermore,the effects of stabilizer concentrations,foam flow rates and expansion ratios on foam spreading performance were investigated,respectively.The results indicate that aqueous SDS foam can spread on the heptane layer continuously,but it is difficult to cover the ethanol surface.The addition of XG and FC1157 can synergistically improve the spreading performance of aqueous foam over ethanol.Depending on stabilizer concentrations,there are remarkable differences in foam spreading behaviors.Besides,different foam application parameters including expansion ratios and foam flow rates significantly affect the foam spreading rate,despite the same foam formulation.The research methods and results guide the optimal design of foam formulations as well as the practical application of aqueous foam for ethanol fire extinguishment.

Blended-fuel based EDC combustion model and its application in heptane-ethanol fire simulation

The blended-fuel based eddy-dissipation-concept combustion model was newly developed in the FireFOAM framework, and applied to simulate 30 cm×30 cm heptane-ethanol pool fire. Comparison was made of fire height, centerline temperature against experimental measurements, which shows that they match very well with each other. However, further studies are needed to examine the validation of this model in fire simulations with various scales.

Experimental Study on Elevated Fires in a Ceiling Vented Compartment

The impacts of elevation on fires in a ceiling vented compartment were investigated experimentally. The flame behavior of elevated fires was recorded. Various parameters including the fuel mass loss rate, the light extinction coefficient, the oxygen concentration and the gas temperature were measured. Results indicated that the variations of the flame behavior were consistent with that of the fuel mass loss rate. The fire location significantly impacted the light extinction coefficient, the oxygen concentration and the gas temperature, which all showed distinct stratification phenomena. For a higher elevated fire, the average fuel loss rate and the overall light extinction coefficient were smaller, the oxygen concentration was higher and the gas temperature was lower. In addition, the smoke descending was slower. From the perspective of those parameters the fire was less hazardous if the fire was elevated higher, which was totally different from the elevated fires in closed compartments.

Self-extinguishing behavior of Kerosene Spray Fire in a Completely Enclosed Compartment

The self-extinguishing behavior of kerosene spray fire was investigated in a completely enclosed compartment with the size of 3 m × 3 m × 3.4 m.The spray was generated by locating one BETE nozzle at the center of the bottom wall.A series of spray fire videos were obtained by changing BETE nozzle type and injecting pressure.The results show that spray fire undergoes four stages: the growth stage,the quasi-steady stage,the stretch stage and the self-extinguishing stage.Consumption of large quantities of oxygen causes spray fire to first be stretched and then quench.In this process,fire base migrates away from spray region and leads to the emergence of ghosting fire.Ghosting fire promotes the instability of spray fire and large fluctuation of its height,which provides help to its self-extinguishing.With increasing the injecting pressure or the nozzle diameter,the self-extinguishing time decreases.It is found that the self-extinguishing time is approximately in inverse relation with injecting flow rate.Additionally,we also observed the occurrence of two-phase deflagration just after ignition,and it accelerates the spray fire growth and induces a larger fire height than the following quasi-steady spray fire.The deflagration turns stronger with increasing the injecting pressure.

Correlation of rate of gas temperature rise with mass loss rate in a ceiling vented compartment

n-heptane pool fire and industrial alcohol pool fire in a ceiling vented compartment were studied experimentally. The parameters including mass loss rate and rate of gas temperature rise were investigated. The results suggest that the rate of gas temperature rise, whose variations were highly coincident with those of the mass loss rate, minimized at the moment of extinction. The correlation of the rate of average nondimensional temperature rise with mass loss rate was established. It was found that the rate of average nondimensional temperature rise may be correlated with mass loss rate via the gas heat absorption coefficient which was found to be a quadratic function of the nondimensional heat release rate for the ceiling vented compartment under study. The present study may be of practical use for estimation of the time-dependent changes in mass loss rate from the gas temperature curves.

Flame Spread over Aviation Kerosene with an Obstacle in Liquid Phase

The phenomena of flame spread over aviation kerosene with an obstacle in liquid phase are investigated experimentally through surface temperature measurement by using infrared camera,schlieren images of subsurface flow in front of and behind obstacle and residence time of flame obtained from video recording.Experimental results reveal that obstacle has no effect on gas phase controlled flame spread.But for liquid phase controlled flame spread,flame can be stopped by an obstacle with its top edge flush with oil surface,and the residence time decreases with the increase of initial temperature of fuel.That conduction and radiation only play a subsidiary role in flame spread over liquid fuel was proved by schlieren images and surface temperature profiles.