- Author
- Nakaya, I. | Tanaka, T. | Yoshida, M. | Steckler, K. D.
- Title
- Doorway Flow Induced by a Propane Fire.
- Coporate
- Building Research Institute, Ibaraki, Japan National Bureau of Standards, Gaithersburg, MD
- Journal
- Fire Safety Journal, Vol. 10, No. 3, 185-195, May 1986
- Keywords
- doors
- Abstract
- A series of full-scale steady-state experiments was conducted to study the high temperature fire-induced flows through doorway openings connecting a burn room to a second room containing a hot gas layer. A propane diffusion burner served as the energy source. Fire strength and doorway width were varied. Measurements included two-dimensional velocity and temperature profiles within the opening and vertical gas temperature profiles within the rooms. Opening mass flows were determined from the opening data. These mass flows are explained in terms of a static pressure model based on actual gas temperature profiles in the two rooms and an orifice coefficient of 0.68. It is also shown that the simple relationship between mass flow rate through the opening, M(a), and ventilation parameter, WH(3/2) (W, opening width; H, opening height) holds even when the opening is in the wall between two rooms. The proportionality constant for this simple relationship may depend on the configuration.