Experimental and numerical investigation of fire development in a real fire in a five‐storey apartment building

A fire in a five‐storey apartment building was investigated experimentally and numerically. The room of origin of the fire was a living room in the second floor and the fire was started by a candle on a television set. The fire spread externally over the building faccade and internally along the staircase and affected all the flats above leading to two fatalities. It is estimated that the fire was discovered minutes after ignition and the fire service was called very shortly after the detection and was at the scene 9 min after the call. By this time large sections of the façade were on fire already. The rapid fire that spread over the façade and the staircase necessitated detailed investigations. Compliance of building products with the building regulations was investigated. One conclusion of the investigations was that the person who caused the fire by leaving the candle on the TV set unattended should not be held responsible for the two fatalities in the upper floors. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Reconstruction of an arson hospital fire

An arson fire in a Swedish psychiatric detention clinic led to the death of two patients and injuries to many more. Rescue personnel were quick to go into the building on fire but had difficulties finding their way due to a very heavy smoke. The reconstruction made, indicates that a too easily ignitable mattress provided heat and radiation enough to ignite a PVC flooring material that then became the main source for fire and smoke. Analysis of soot from the fire site and measurements during the reconstruction show that the fire smoke contained large amounts of irritants that might have had an impact on the tragic outcome. In fact, comparing the toxicity of smoke gases produced during the reconstruction, based on different ‘toxicity indicators’, suggests that irritants in the fire smoke were as dangerous as or even more dangerous than the common asphyxiate type of gases present, CO and HCN. Another suggestion from the reported work is that the importance of flooring material for enclosure fire development might be overlooked. The reconstruction clearly demonstrates that the tragic fire would not have happened if the requirements for the flooring material had been the same as for the walls and ceiling materials. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Thermal and mechanical transient behaviour of steel doors installed in non‐load‐bearing partition wall assemblies during exposure to the standard fire test

In this paper, the authors present experimental results and observations of four full‐scale standard fire tests on single‐leaf steel doors and steel frames installed in 3 × 3 m non‐load‐bearing partition walls. Three full‐scale fire tests were performed on steel doors installed in lightweight partition walls constructed by using steel C‐section studs with gypsum boards fixed on both sides. Two lightweight walls incorporated Rockwool cavity insulation, while the third lightweight wall was constructed without cavity insulation. The fourth fire test involved a steel door installed in a masonry partition wall. While the steel door leaf and door frames were identical in all four full‐scale tests, only the steel door installed in the masonry wall achieved the desired fire resistance rating of 30 min. The integrity criterion for fire resistance was determined for the scenario when the door opened away from the furnace. The duration of fire resistance according to the integrity criterion was found to be 38, 25 and 19 min for the same door when installed in masonry wall, uninsulated lightweight wall and insulated lightweight wall respectively. For the thermal insulation criterion of fire resistance, the scenario of the door opening into the fire was found to be the most onerous. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

浅析影响防火门耐火性能的因素

文章通过Warrigton防火构建试验炉对木质防火门和不同内填充材料的钢质防火门进行试验检测,对结果进行了研究,结果表明：防火门的不同外表材质对耐火性能的影响较小;耐火性能最佳依次为钢质防火门（内填充珍珠岩）和木质防火门（内填充珍珠岩）、钢质防火门（内填充岩棉）、钢质防火门（内填充玻璃棉）,为防火门的生产与应用提供参考。     

Toxic gas and smoke measurement with the British Fire Propagation test. I: Test conditions

No standard method has been developed for measureing the evolution of specific toxic gases from building lings when involved in fire. The British Fire Propagation test (BS 476 Part 6) operated in an instrumented room has been proposed for this purpose previously but has not found general acceptance. It is considered further in this report, which investigates the movement and measurement of smoke and specific fire gases under different conditions of room stirring and the effect of the latter on fire propagation indexes. Stiring has been found to have no statistically significant effect on fire propagation indexes provided that the effects of this on calibration of the apparatus are taken into account. Stirring also had little effect upon smoke production per se. Under unstire conditions smoke and toxic gases stratify in the same layer early in the test, and measurement of their production at any single room location will be subject to the location, the way the room influences stratification and how the room is instrumentee, as well as by the prpduct performance. Under stirred room conditions smoke and toxic gases are evenly distributed and product performance can be assessed more simply from concurrent measurements of fire, smoke and toxic gas parameters. The latter procedure is proposed for obtaining relative data on building linings and for examination in further studies for correlation to room and corridor burns.     

Poly(vinyl chloride) and its fire properties

This work provides an up‐to‐date review of the fire properties of poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) materials, both rigid (unplasticized) and flexible (plasticized). The fire properties addressed include ignitability, ease of extinction (oxygen index), flame spread (small scale and intermediate scale), heat release, smoke obscuration, smoke toxicity, hydrogen chloride emission and decay, and performance in real‐scale fires. This comprehensive review includes a wide selection of references and tables illustrating the properties of PVC materials in comparison with those of other polymeric materials, including, in many instances, wood materials. The work puts these fire properties in perspective, showing that the heat release rate (the key fire property) of rigid PVC (and that of properly flame‐retarded flexible PVC) are among the lower values found for combustible materials. This work also shows that the smoke toxicity and smoke obscuration resulting from burning PVC materials in real‐scale fires is in the same range as those of other materials.     

Influence of multisource fire on temperature distribution and natural smoke exhaust effect in urban tunnels with a shaft

The combustion characteristics of multisource fire and single-source fire are quite different, and there is little research on the influence of multisource fire on the natural smoke extraction effect of shaft in urban tunnels. Therefore, in this article, the method of numerical simulation was used to study the influence of fire power and distance between two fire sources on the natural smoke extraction effect of shaft and the temperature distribution in tunnel in the case of multisource fire. Typical characteristics of smoke are analyzed, such as mass flow rate, temperature distribution, velocity vector, and CO concentration. The simulation results show that when there is a certain distance between the fire sources, the two flames are inclined and close to each other. The smoke temperature under the ceiling is higher under multiple fire sources than that under single fire source. In addition, when one of the fire sources is located at the downstream of the shaft, the smoke emission in the shaft is relatively high. As the distance between fire sources continues to increase, the smoke exhaust rate basically remains stable, and an empirical relationship between smoke exhaust rate and fire source location is established.     

Experimental study of fire compartment with door opening and roof opening

A series of reduced‐scale experimental fires was conducted to study the characteristics of fire induced vent flows in a reduced‐scale post‐flashover fire compartment with a door opening and a roof opening. The fire source was a heptane pool fire near the wall furthest from the door vent. In the study, the roof vent opening area was systematically varied between experiments and the characteristics of vent flows through the door opening are presented as a function of the roof vent opening area. The experimental results show that the mass flow rate of air into the compartment increases linearly as the size of roof vent opening increases. Analytical vent flow calculations based on the hydrostatic pressure difference between two quiescent environments are presented for a post‐flashover fire compartment with both horizontal and vertical openings. The calculated results are in good agreement with the experimental measurements. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

固体推进剂燃烧诱发热烟气运动的大涡模拟

利用空间火蔓延与烟气运动的大涡模拟方法,探讨了固体推进剂燃烧时在舱室内形成的火蔓延和烟气的运动,计算出室内烟气温度、墙壁温度与地面热流密度随时间的变化,与试验结果相符合.计算结果表明,固体推进剂火灾初期室内的气体受到热烟气的挤压像受到活塞的推挤一样流出门口;顶棚温度出现位于靠近火源和通风口连接通道所处的垂直截面附近的局...     

Investigation of smoke gases and temperatures during car fire – large‐scale and small‐scale tests and numerical investigations

The hazards for passengers during vehicle fires result from the increasing temperature and the emitted smoke gases. A fire was set on a car to investigate the development of temperature and of gaseous fire products in the passenger compartment. The study was based on a full‐scale test with a reconstructed scene of a serious car fire. The aim of this work was to identify the conditions for self‐rescuing of passengers during a car fire. A dummy, equipped with several thermocouples, was placed on the driver's seat. Also, the smoke gases were continuously collected through a removable probe sensor corresponding to the nose of the dummy in the passenger compartment and analyzed using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Additionally, several car components were investigated in the smoke density chamber (smoke emission and smoke gas composition). It was found that the toxic gases already reached hazardous levels by 5 min, while the temperatures at the dummy were at that time less than 80 °C. The toxicity of smoke gases was assessed using the fractional effective dose concept. The various experimentally parameters (temperature and smoke gas composition) were implemented into numerical simulations with fire dynamics simulator. Both the experimental data and the numerical simulations are presented and discussed. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

火灾烟气扩散数值模拟与控制研究

描述了高层建筑火灾危险性的特点和现实情况,分别介绍了目前国内外在建筑火灾烟气扩散领域的研究和成果,指出了需进一步改进的问题,并提出了采用分区模拟的手段来实现高层建筑火灾烟气扩散的计算机模拟。     

Development of a numerically efficient approach based on coupled CFD/FEM analysis for virtual fire resistance tests—Part B: Deformation process of a steel structure

In the present study, the structural analysis of a three-parted steel door during a fire resistance test was examined by FEM simulation. The structural analysis is part of a coupled CFD/FEM simulation approach developed for the prediction of fire resistance tests. The basis of this follow-up work was the calculated temperature in the test specimen from CFD to predict the thermal stresses, deformation and gap formation between the door parts. The spatial information of the temperature in the test specimen was exported. Subsequently, the thermal expansion of the door and the resulting stresses and gaps were calculated. To validate the FEM simulation, the deformation of the steel door was observed. It was found that the simulation predicted the deformation of the steel door in close accordance to the measurement. The maximum displacement was found in the centre of the construction with 141 mm, whereas the simulation predicted a value of 133 mm. In addition to the deformation of the door, also the prediction of the gap formation was validated against the flue gas leakage. The first flue gas exit occurred already after 120 seconds, which was in spatial and temporal conjunction with the maximum gap predicted in the simulation.     

通风方式对化工车间火灾影响的实例分析

在分析化工企业火灾危险性的基础上,建立了化工车间火灾危险度分析数学模型。根据工程实际,分别对正常工业通风和火灾后事故通风工况进行了火灾危险度计算。计算结果表明事故通风及防排烟系统启动后,能有效的降低车间的火灾危险性等级。研究结果用于指导化工厂通风系统设计及提高消防安全管理水平。     

有机磷阻燃剂的研究进展

由于有机磷阻燃剂具有高效、低毒、无污染及无烟等特点,该领域的研究在国内外得到极大的关注。综述了磷酸酯类阻燃剂、膦酸酯类阻燃剂和磷杂环类阻燃剂的研究进展,并提出了有机磷阻燃剂今后的发展方向。     

CFD modeling approach of smoke toxicity and opacity for flaming and non‐flaming combustion processes

Current engineer's methods of fire safety design include various approaches to calculate the fire propagation and smoke spread in buildings by means of computational fluid dynamics (CFD). Because of the increased computational capacity, CFD is commonly used for prediction of time‐dependent safety parameters such as critical temperature, smoke layer height, rescue times, distributions of chemical products, and smoke toxicity and visibility. The analysis of smoke components with CFD is particularly complex, because the composition of the fire gases and also the smoke quantities depends on material properties and also on ambient and burning conditions. Oxygen concentrations and the temperature distribution in the compartment affect smoke production and smoke gas toxicity qualitatively and quantitatively. For safety designs, it can be necessary to take these influences into account. Current smoke models in CFD often use a constant smoke yield that does not vary with different fire conditions. If smoke gas toxicity is considered, a simple approach with the focus on carbon monoxide is often used. On the basis of a large set of experimental data, a numerical smoke model has been developed. The developed numerical smoke model includes optical properties, production, and toxic potential of smoke under different conditions. For the setup of the numerical model, experimental data were used for calculation of chemical components and evaluation of smoke toxicity under different combustion conditions. Therefore, averaged reaction equations were developed from experimental measurements and implemented in ANSYS CFX 14.0. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

软质PVC阻燃抑烟的研究

介绍了各类阻燃剂(如氢氧化铝、氢氧化镁、锑系、磷系、硼系、钼系)的性能及阻燃机理,并对软质PVC材料的阻燃抑烟性能进行了实验。结果表明：经偶联剂处理过的阻燃剂,由于增强了其与基体的界面结合力。从而使其力学性能得到提高;三氧化钼的用量对聚合物的阻燃效果影响不明显,而随着硼酸锌和三氧化二锑用量的增加,其阻燃效果越来越好。     

Influence of modern plastic furniture on the fire development in fires in homes: large‐scale fire tests in living rooms

About 80% of all fire fatalities in Germany occur because of fires in homes. It has been known for some time that modern materials (synonym for materials consisting mostly of synthetic polymers) tend to burn differently from older materials (synonym for materials consisting mostly of fibrous cellulosic substances) and it has been acknowledged that the amount of combustible plastics in homes has increased significantly over the last decades. To investigate the influence of modern furniture and ventilation conditions of fires in homes, a series of four large‐scale tests in two living rooms (LRs) with adjacent rooms (ARs) was performed by BAM and the Frankfurt fire service. Two LRs, one with older furniture and one with modern furniture, were tested twice each. Each test started with the ignition of a paper cushion on an upholstered chair. The influence of modern materials on the fire development was investigated, as well as the influence of the ventilation on the fire development. In all settings, an upholstered chair was the first burning item. Results of the test series show that fires in rooms with modern furniture develop faster than fires in rooms with older furniture. This is true for temperature development in the rooms as well as for smoke production.     

New approaches to determine the interface height of fire smoke based on a three-layer zone model and its verification in large confined space

Large confined space has high incidence of fires, which seriously threatens the safety of people working there. Understanding the distribution of smoke in such large space is critical to fire development prediction and smoke control. Three improved methods for the stratification interface prediction of fire smoke are developed, including of improved intra-variance, integral ratio and N-percentage methods. In these methods, the interface height is determined by the vertical temperature distribution based on a three-layer smoke zone model, which is an improvement of a two-layer zone model. Thereafter, the three improved methods are applied to several typical fire cases simulated CFD to predict the smoke interface, and their applicability and reliability are verified by comparison of the smoke stratification results with the filed simulation results. Results show that the three improved methods can effectively determine the location of the three-layer zone model's interface, and they have the ability to predict smoke interface for fires with different fire source types and ventilation conditions.     

Study on fire smoke flow characteristics in the ventilation network and linkage control system in coal mines

In coal mining, smoke flow from tunnel fires can easily cause a large number of deaths in the ventilation network. But the optimal smoke flow path control methods and automatic control system were lacked. In order to improve the efficiency of fire emergency rescue, the control mechanism and regional linkage control system for fire induced smoke flow in ventilation network was studied. Based on a ventilation system in coal mines, different fire scenarios for smoke flow were analysed using ventilation simulation software (VSS). Smoke flow control methods were simulated under different ventilation modes, a contrastive analysis was conducted for the respective effects and the optimal smoke flow path control methods were confirmed in different fire scenarios. A new type of ventilation facility, regional monitoring sub-stations and remote linkage control platforms were developed for smoke control. A reliability evaluation model for the control system was established by Bayesian network. The failure of the linkage control is 98.9%, the monitoring sub-station is 64.4%, the sub-station communication is 43.9%; thus, a double insurance of the control process must be realised. Since its application, the proposed regional linkage control system has been repeatedly tested through fire drills, and good results have been obtained.     

海上石油平台消防泵启动失败案例分析

针对海上平台直升机甲板消防炮启动消防泵失败的案例进行分析并提出解决方案。采用PIPENET软件对影响海上石油平台消防主环网内压力的各种因素进行了模拟计算和分析,经计算分析发现消防炮启动后,消防泵未能自动启动的主要原因在于压力变送器处的压力始终高于变送器启泵设定值,变送器未能发送信号。导致压力变送器处的压力始终高于变送器启泵设定值的主要原因是消防主环网的垂直高度以及海水稳压管线的流量对变送器处的压力产生直接影响。在此分析的基础上提出了解决问题的措施,并对其可行性进行了分析,同时对后续设计提出了优化建议。