- Author
-
Cousin, C. S.
- Title
- Developments in the Use of Water Fog.
- Coporate
- Fire Research Station, Borehamwood, England
- Report
-
FM260; PD 58/93,
February 1993,
13 p.
- Book or Conf
- FIREX 1993,
1993
- Keywords
-
water fog
|
droplet size
|
water sprays
|
fire suppression
|
aircraft compartments
|
survival
|
large scale fire tests
|
fuselages
|
halons
|
enclosures
|
boeing 707 aircraft
- Identifiers
- enclosed spaces; computer cabinets; laser phase doppler system
- Abstract
- The paper gives a brief survey of droplet size characterisation criteria and definitions. There is a summary of early studies of fire extinguishing with water sprays, and a brief descritpion of the underlying mechanisms. The paper then describes two areas of study at the fire research Station involving the use of fine water sprays for fire control. The first area of study covers an investigation conducted for the Civil Aviation Authority on the effectiveness of on-board water spray systems in limiting fire growth and spread within the passenger cabin should an aircraft be involved in a fire following a survivable crash. This study involved full scale fire tests using a test rig based on a Boeing 707 fuselage. The second study is ongoing, and describes the use of fine water sprays as a halon replacement for extinguishing fires in enclosed spaces such as computer cabinets. The paper then describes future work planned at the Fire Research Station on the use of fine water sprays to extinguish fires in large enclosures. Particular emphasis is given to the use of the laser phase doppler system. Finally there is a description of some commercial applications of fine water sprays that are either under development or in use.