- Author
- Ingason, H.
- Title
- Experimental and Theoretical Study of Rack Storage Fires.
- Coporate
- Lund Univ., Sweden
- Report
- LUTVDG/TVBB-1013-SE, 1996, 58 p.
- Keywords
- pallet storage | fire growth | fire plumes | flame height | gas temperature | heat transfer | sprinklers | response time
- Abstract
- A theoretical and experimental study of rack storage fires and responsiveness of sprinklers is presented. Free-burn tests with non-combustible and combustible material were carried out in reduced scale with verification in large scale. Formulas for in-rack flame height, excess gas temperature, gas velocity and heat flux to storage walls are provided. The formulas inlcude overall heat release rate, vertical flue width, height above the floor, height of virtual origin and sootiness of fuel. They can be used to predict activation times of in-rack sprinklers and it is possible to directly incorporate them into engineering models designed to predict fire growth in storage geomertries. The storage arrangement is important for the initial flame spread and fire growth rate. The reduced scale study shows that the initial fire growth rate decreases with increasing vertical gaps (flues) and that the vertical and lateral flame spread rate increase when the lateral flue height increases. The fire growth rate of rack storages is usually described by a power law dependence on time to the thrid power. The large scale test shows, however, that the initial fire growth rate is better described by an exponential function.