Internal Fire Whirls Induced by Pool Fire in a Vertical Shaft

Author(s):  
Yan Huo ◽  
W. K. Chow ◽  
Ye Gao

Internal fire whirls induced by a pool fire in a square vertical shaft were studied by experiments and numerical simulations. The burning behaviour of two pool fires in the vertical shaft and in open air was compared. The gap width of the rig is a key factor in onsetting fire whirls. Air flow field in the vertical square shaft of different gap widths were studied experimentally with nine tests. A fire whirl would not be onsetted when the gap is too narrow nor too wide. Whirling flame is not clearly observed near to the bottom of the vertical shaft when the gap width was small.

Author(s):  
Y. Gao ◽  
G. W. Zou ◽  
S. S. Li ◽  
W. K. Chow

Earlier studies on burning a pool fire in a vertical shaft model indicated that appropriate sidewall ventilation provision is a key factor for the onset of an internal fire whirl. Experiments on burning a pool fire inside a real-scale shaft model of 9 m tall were performed to further investigate the swirling motion. The full-scale modeling burning tests were carried out at a remote site in China. Four different ventilation openings were arranged. Results of onsetting of internal fire whirls for the four tests will be reported.


2017 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 34-45 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. W. Zou ◽  
H. Y. Hung ◽  
W. K. Chow

An internal fire whirl can be generated by a pool fire burning in a vertical shaft with a single corner gap of appropriate width. In an internal fire whirl, the flame height is an important characteristic in terms of fire safety. In this paper, a correlation expression of flame height with the width of a single corner gap was studied using reported experimental data in a 9-m tall vertical shaft model. A pool of gasoline fuel was burnt inside the shaft model to study the characteristics of flame swirling. An internal fire whirl was generated for gap widths lying between 0.11 m and 0.66 m, when the pool fire was 0.46 m diameter. The flame height was between 2.5 m and 3.2 m. From the experimental observations on flame swirling for different gap widths, coupled with three assumptions on variation of air entrainment velocity with height, an expression relating the flame height and the corner gap width was derived for the internal fire whirl using a set of compiled experimental data. The correlation expression obtained would be useful for fire safety design in vertical shafts.


2019 ◽  
pp. 266-266
Author(s):  
Hing Hung ◽  
Shousuo Han ◽  
Wan Chow ◽  
Cheuk Chow

The fire whirl generated by burning a pool fire in a vertical shaft with a single corner gap of appropriate width was studied using a high-speed camera. A 7-cm diameter pool propanol fire with heat release rate 1.6 kW in free space was burnt inside a 145-cm tall vertical shaft model with gap widths lying between 2 cm and 16 cm. The flame height was between 0.25 m and 0.85 m for different gap widths. Photographs taken using a high-speed camera at critical times of swirling motion development were used to compare with those taken using a normal camera. From the experimental observations on flame swirling by a high-speed camera, stages for generating the fire whirl were identified much more accurately. Two flame vortex tubes moving over the horizontal burning surface of the liquid pool were observed. Based on these observations a set of more detailed schematic diagrams on the swirling motion was constructed. From the observed flame heights under different gap widths and using three assumptions on the variation of air entrainment velocity with height, an empirical expression relating the burning rate with flame height and the corner gap width was derived from the observation with high-speed camera. The correlation expression of the burning rate of the pool fire obtained would be useful in fire safety design in vertical shafts of tall buildings.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph D. Chung ◽  
Xiao Zhang ◽  
Elaine S. Oran ◽  
Carolyn Kaplan

2013 ◽  
Vol 368-370 ◽  
pp. 619-623
Author(s):  
Zhen Liu ◽  
Xiao Ling Wang ◽  
Ai Li Zhang

For the purpose of avoiding the deficiency of the traditional construction ventilation, the ventilation of the underground main powerhouse is simulated by the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to optimize ventilation parameters. A 3D unsteady RNG k-ε model is performed for construction ventilation in the underground main powerhouse. The air-flow field and CO diffusion in the main powerhouse are simulated and analyzed. The two construction ventilation schemes are modelled for the main powerhouse. The optimized ventilation scheme is obtained by comparing the air volume and pressure distributions of the different ventilation schemes.


2011 ◽  
Vol 54 (9) ◽  
pp. 2475-2482 ◽  
Author(s):  
WanXi Zhang ◽  
LiJun Yang ◽  
XiaoZe Du ◽  
YongPing Yang

Author(s):  
Veeraraghava R Hasti ◽  
Prithwish Kundu ◽  
Sibendu Som ◽  
Jay P Gore

The turbulent flow field in a practical gas turbine combustor is very complex because of the interactions between various flows resulting from components like multiple types of swirlers, dilution holes, and liner effusion cooling holes. Numerical simulations of flows in such complex combustor configurations are challenging. The challenges result from (a) the complexities of the interfaces between multiple three-dimensional shear layers, (b) the need for proper treatment of a large number of tiny effusion holes with multiple angles, and (c) the requirements for fast turnaround times in support of engineering design optimization. Both the Reynolds averaged Navier–Stokes simulation (RANS) and the large eddy simulation (LES) for the practical combustor geometry are considered. An autonomous meshing using the cut-cell Cartesian method and adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) is demonstrated for the first time to simulate the flow in a practical combustor geometry. The numerical studies include a set of computations of flows under a prescribed pressure drop across the passage of interest and another set of computations with all passages open with a specified total flow rate at the plenum inlet and the pressure at the exit. For both sets, the results of the RANS and the LES flow computations agree with each other and with the corresponding measurements. The results from the high-resolution LES simulations are utilized to gain fundamental insights into the complex turbulent flow field by examining the profiles of the velocity, the vorticity, and the turbulent kinetic energy. The dynamics of the turbulent structures are well captured in the results of the LES simulations.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 (0) ◽  
pp. 0159
Author(s):  
Yuto Iga ◽  
Kazunori Kuwana
Keyword(s):  

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