- Author
-
Battaglia, F.
|
McGrattan, K. B.
|
Rehm, R. G.
|
Baum, H. R.
- Title
- Fire Whirl Simulations.
- Coporate
- National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD
- Report
-
NISTIR 6242
October 1998
- Distribution
- AVAILABLE FROM National Technical Information Service (NTIS), Technology Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, Springfield, VA 22161. Telephone: 1-800-553-6847 or 703-605-6000; Fax: 703-605-6900. Website: http://www.ntis.gov
- Book or Conf
- National Institute of Standards and Technology. Annual Conference on Fire Research: Book of Abstracts. November 2-5, 1998,
Gaithersburg, MD,
Beall, K. A., Editors,
97-98 p.,
1998
- Keywords
-
fire research
|
fire science
|
fire suppression
|
fire whirls
|
simulation
|
temperature field
- Abstract
- Fire whirls are a rare but potentially catastrophic form of fire. In order for one to exist, there must be an external source of organized angular momentum that products large swirl velocity components as air is entrained into the fire plume. The vertical acceleration induced by the buoyancy generates strain fields which stretch out the flames as they wrap around the nominal plume centerline. Fire whirls are known to increase substantially the danger of naturally occurring or post-disaster fires.