Ventilation in Small-Compartment Fires: The Potential of Fire Retardancy
Received: 19 July 2024 | Revised: 12 August 2024 | Accepted: 18 August 2024 | Online: 9 October 2024
Corresponding author: Mohammed S. El-Ali Al-Waqfi
Abstract
Modern architecture expands building openings to take advantage of natural light, which may have detrimental effects in case of fire occurrence. The falling panes by the high temperatures may cause fire to spread and endanger lives and property. Based on that and by using Pyrosim software, the current study investigated the effect of natural ventilation on small-compartment fire development and on the latter reaching the flashover phase. The simulated enclosure was a 3.6 m × 3.6 m × 2.9 m room with a closed door of 0.90 m × 2.10 m. The study analyzed the impact of the ventilation opening size and dimensions on fire development and the neutral plane height. The results showed that the ventilation area, rather than its dimensions, was the factor with the most significant impact. Higher ventilation areas reduced the temperatures well below the flashover conditions. The current study reveals the potential of employing natural ventilation to help prevent compartment fires from reaching the flashover stage as well as its consequences on lives and property.
Keywords:
CFD, fire simulation, compartment fires, natural ventilation, flashoverDownloads
References
[1] N. N. Brushlinsky, M. Ahrens, S. V. Sokolov, and P. Wagner, "World Fire Statistics CTIF - International Association of Fire Services for Safer Citizens through Skilled Firefighters", Ljubljana, Slovenia, 2017.
Y. Jaluria, Q. Tan, "Flow through Horizontal Vents in Compartment Fires," Proceedings of Eastern Sect. Combustion Inst. Meeting, Orlando, FL, Paper N0.61, 1990, DOI: 10.1016/j.proeng.2013.08.063.
Y. Al-Jahmany, "Pressure Behaviour of Hot Gases and Smoke in Fires of Large Enclosures with Different Ventilation Systems," Jordanian Journal of Engineering and Chemical Industries (JJECI), vol. 6, pp. 5–10, Apr. 2024.
J. Quintiere, "Scaling realistic fire scenarios," Progress in Scale Modeling, an International Journal, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 1–19, Aug. 2020.
B. Manescau, L. Courty, L. Acherar, B. Coudour, H.-Y. Wang, and J.-P. Garo, "Effects of ventilation conditions and procedures during a fire in a reduced-scale room," Process Safety and Environmental Protection, vol. 144, pp. 263–272, Dec. 2020.
A. S.-X. Loo, A. Coppalle, J. Yon, and P. Aîné, "Time-dependent smoke yield and mass loss of pool fires in a reduced-scale mechanically ventilated compartment," Fire Safety Journal, vol. 81, pp. 32–43, Apr. 2016.
H. Prétrel, W. Le Saux, and L. Audouin, "Pressure variations induced by a pool fire in a well-confined and force-ventilated compartment," Fire Safety Journal, vol. 52, pp. 11–24, Aug. 2012.
H. Prétrel and J. M. Such, "Effect of ventilation procedures on the behaviour of a fire compartment scenario," Nuclear Engineering and Design, vol. 235, no. 20, pp. 2155–2169, Sep. 2005.
J. G. Quintiere, "Scaling applications in fire research," Fire Safety Journal, vol. 15, no. 1, pp. 3–29, Jan. 1989.
A. H. Buchanan and A. K. Abu, Structural Design for Fire Safety, 2nd ed. New Zealand: Wiley, 2016.
G. L. Nelson, "Carbon Monoxide and Fire Toxicity: A Review and Analysis of Recent Work," Fire Technology, vol. 34, no. 1, pp. 39–58, Mar. 1998.
Y. Alarie, "Toxicity of fire smoke," Critical Reviews in Toxicology, vol. 32, no. 4, pp. 259–289, Jul. 2002.
"Reporter’s Guide: The consequences of fire," NFPA, https://www.nfpa.org/about-nfpa/press-room/reporters-guide-to-fire/consequences-of-fire.
V. R. Kodur, "Properties of Concrete at Elevated Temperatures," ISRN Civil Engineering, vol. 2014, pp. 1–15, Mar. 2014.
F. M. Liang, W. K. Chow, and S. D. Liu, "Preliminary Studies on Flashover Mechanism in Compartment Fires," Journal of Fire Sciences, vol. 20, no. 2, pp. 87–112, Mar. 2002.
R. D. Peacock, P. A. Reneke, R. W. Bukowski, and V. Babrauskas, "Defining flashover for fire hazard calculations," Fire Safety Journal, vol. 32, no. 4, pp. 331–345, Jun. 1999.
N. Johansson and P. van Hees, "A correlation for predicting smoke layer temperature in a room adjacent to a room involved in a pre-flashover fire," Fire and Materials, vol. 38, no. 2, pp. 182–193, 2014.
R. W. Bukowski, "Fire hazard assessment," in NFPA fire protection handbook, J. Linville, Ed. Boston, MA, USA: NFPA, 1996, pp. 69–78.
S. M. Olenick and D. J. Carpenter, "An Updated International Survey of Computer Models for Fire and Smoke," Journal of Fire Protection Engineering, vol. 13, no. 2, pp. 87–110, May 2003.
P. Matlani and M. Shrivastava, "An Efficient Algorithm Proposed For Smoke Detection in Video Using Hybrid Feature Selection Techniques," Engineering, Technology & Applied Science Research, vol. 9, no. 2, pp. 3939–3944, Apr. 2019.
M. Elashmawy, "3D-CFD Simulation of Confined Cross-Flow Injection Process Using Single Piston Pump," Engineering, Technology & Applied Science Research, vol. 7, no. 6, pp. 2308–2312, Dec. 2017.
J. Palfy, Guidance Notes on Alternative Design and Arrangements for Fire Safety 2010, TX, USA: American Bureau of Shipping, 2004.
Z. Fu and G. Hadjisophocleous, "A two-zone fire growth and smoke movement model for multi-compartment buildings," Fire Safety Journal, vol. 34, no. 3, pp. 257–285, Apr. 2000.
R. D. Peacock, G. P. Forney, and P. A. Reneke, CFAST Consolidated Model of Fire Growth and Smoke Transport: Technical Reference Guide, 6th ed. MD USA: U.S. Department of Commerce, NIST, 2013.
K. B. McGrattan, R. J. McDermott, C. G. Weinschenk, and G. P. Forney, Fire Dynamics Simulator Users Guide, 6th ed. MD USA: NIST U.S. Department of Commerce, 2013.
A. Alkhazaleh and H. M. Duwairi, "Analysis of mechanical system ventilation performance in an atrium by consolidated model of fire and smoke transport simulation," International Journal of Heat and Technology, vol. 33, no. 3, pp. 121–126, Sep. 2015.
D. Ling and K. Kan, "Numerical Simulations on Fire and Analysis of the Spread Characteristics of Smoke in Supermarket," in Advanced Research on Computer Education, Simulation and Modeling, Berlin, Heidelberg, 2011, pp. 7–13.
S. Lee, "Computational Investigation of Flashover Mechanism using Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS)," M.S. thesis, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, IL, USA, 2011.
"Interior Environment," in 2018 International Building Code (IBC), Country Club Hills, IL USA: International Code Council, 2017.
P. O. Mvogo, R. Mouangue, J. T. Zaida, M. Obounou, and H. E. Fouda, "Building Fire: Experimental and Numerical Studies on Behaviour of Flows at Opening," Journal of Combustion, vol. 2019, no. 1, Jan. 2019, Art. no. 2535073.
B. Chen, S. Lu, C. Li, and M. Yuan, "Analysis of Compartment Fires with a Ceiling Vent," Procedia Engineering, vol. 62, pp. 258–265, Jan. 2013.
M. J. Peatross and C. L. Beyler, "Ventilation Effects On Compartment Fire Characterization," Fire Safety Science, vol. 5, pp. 403–414, Jan. 1997.
M. Beshir, Y. Wang, A. Cicione, R. Hadden, M. Krajcovic, and D. Rush, "The Effect of the Fuel Location and Ventilation Factor on the Fire Dynamics of Informal Settlement Dwellings," Fire Technology, Dec. 2023.
C. Su and S. Wang, "Analysis of tilted neutral planes for tall space fires with unsymmetrical openings using numerical simulation and Schlieren photography technique," International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat & Fluid Flow, vol. 29, no. 11, pp. 4213–4236, Jan. 2019.
J. A. Al-Jarrah, D. Rbeht, M. S. E.-A. Al-Waqfi, and Y. Al-Jahmany, "Experimental Study of the Flame Retardancy of PMMA-Graphene Composite Materials," Engineering, Technology & Applied Science Research, vol. 14, no. 2, pp. 13324–13328, Apr. 2024.
Downloads
How to Cite
License
Copyright (c) 2024 Mohammed S. El-Ali Al-Waqfi, Yarub Al-Jahmany, Jawdat Al-Jarrah, Diana Rbehat, Omar Ayed Al-Qudah
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain the copyright and grant the journal the right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) after its publication in ETASR with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
