- Author
- Boyd, C. F. | diMarzo, M.
- Title
- Fire Protection Foam in a Radiative Environment.
- Coporate
- Maryland Univ., College Park
- Sponsor
- National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD
- Book or Conf
- American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). National Heat Transfer Conference. ASME 31st Proceedings. Volume 6: Combustion and Fire; Computational Heat Transfer in Combustion Systems. HTD-Vol. 328. August 3-6, 1996, American Society of Mechanical Engineers, New York, NY, Houston, TX, McQuay, M. Q.; Annamalai, K.; Schreiber, W.; Choudhury, D.; Bigzadeh, E.; Runchal, A., Editors, 123-129 p., 1996
- Keywords
- foam extinguishing systems | fire protection | radiant heating | experiments | thermal radiation | temperature profiles | ablation | heat transfer | combustion | foam expansion
- Identifiers
- foam characterization; foam testing apparatus; foam ablation model
- Abstract
- Fire protection foams are effective in shielding structures from fire exposures. A one-dimensional, steady-state model is developed which predicts the behavior of a fire protection foam subjected to radiant heat input. Foam destruction rate, energy balance, and temperature distribution within the foam are calculated for a given radiant heat input and foam expansion ratio. Results indicate that the overall energy equation is dominated by the generation and evaporation terms. The convection term accounts for approximately 10% of the energy, and thremal diffusion is less than 1%. Experimental data are obtained by exposing foam samples to radiant heat input from a set of gas-fired panels. Temperature profiles are measured within the foam as the foam evaporates. The model results are within the experimental uncertainty.