- Author
-
Cooper, L. Y.
- Title
- Estimating the Environment and the Response of Sprinkler Links in Compartment Fires With Draft Curtains and Fusible Link-Actuated Ceiling Vents: Theory.
- Coporate
- National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD
- Journal
-
Fire Safety Journal,
Vol. 16,
No. 2,
137-163,
1990
- Sponsor
- AAMA Research Foundation, Des Plaines, IL
- Keywords
-
sprinklers
|
building fires
|
compartment fires
|
computer models
|
algorithms
|
mathematical models
|
vents
|
sprinkler response
|
zone models
|
ceiling vents
- Identifiers
- LAVENT
- Abstract
- The physical basis and associated mathematical model for estimating the fire-generated environment and the response of sprinkler links in well-ventilated compartment fires with draft-curtains and fusible link-actuated ceiling vents is developed. Complete equations and assumptions are presented. Phenomena taken into account include: the flow dynamics of the upward-driven, buoyant fire plume; growth of the elevated-temperature smoke layer in the curtained compartment; the flow of smoke from the layer to the outside through open ceiling vents; the flow of smoke below curtain partitions to building spaces adjacent to the curtained space of fire origin; continuation of the fire plume in the upper layer; heat transfer to the ceiling surface and the thermal response of the ceiling as a function of radial distance from the point of plume-ceiling impingement; the velocity and temperature distribution of plume-driven near-ceiling flows and the response of near-ceiling-deployed fusible links as functions of distance below the ceiling and distance from plume-ceiling impingement. The theory presented here is the basis of a user-friendly computer program, LAVENT, which is supported by a user guide and which can be used to study parametrically a wide range of relevant fire scenarios.