FireDOC Search

Author
Emmons, H. W.
Title
Ceiling Jet in Fires.
Coporate
Harvard Univ., Cambridge, MA
Sponsor
National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD
Report
NIST GCR 90-582; Home Fire Proj. Tech. Rpt. 82
December 1990
51 p.
Distribution
Available from National Technical Information Service
Contract
NIST-GRANT-60NANB8D0845
Keywords
ceiling jets | corridors | room fires | smoke movement | hydraulic approximation
Abstract
The steady ceiling jet is examined with a simplified "top hat" theory. Friction causes the jet to change downstream with flow, depth, and/or hydraulic jump adjustments to produce Richardson Number =1 at the corridor exit, just as in hydraulics. Entrainment has a qualitative effect identical to friction, although there are quantitative differences. Heat transfer has, however, the opposite effect; the Richardson Number moves away from 1 as the flow proceeds. When all effects are included, high friction cases are predictable, while low friction cases are not. New experimental studies are needed to locate the reasons.