- Author
- Parkes, A. R.
- Title
- Under-Ventilated Compartment Fires: A Precursor to Smoke Explosions.
- Coporate
- University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand
- Report
- Fire Engineering Research Report 96/5, December 1997, 196 p.
- Keywords
- compartment fires | smoke | explosions | experiments | liquid fires | pool fires | compartments | ventilation | instruments | data analaysis | windows | extinguishment | temperature | pressure | mass loss | weather effects | vents | mass loss | heat release rate | zone models | fire growth
- Identifiers
- explosion protection
- Abstract
- Fourteen experiments were conducted at the University of Canterbury using a 1.0m x 1.0m x 1.4m compartment with liquid pool fires. They were conducted to experimentally study, in reduced scale, the conditions that exist in under-ventilated compartments, with a focus on smoke explosions. Ventilation into the compartment was controlled to force the fire to burn to extinction, with the temperatures and fuel mass loss rates being recorded. In the process of determining these conditions, the behavioral properties of various building mateials and their limitations showed testament to the difficulties that arise when attempting to control a natural energy. Trying to build a compartment to contain fires of temperatures up to 1100 deg C, was in itself a testing process. The initial fire resistant building materials used, were found to have adverse effects when repeatedly exposed to fires.