- Author
-
Tieszen, S. R.
|
Nicolette, V. F.
|
Gritzo, L. A.
|
Holen, J. K.
|
Murray, D.
|
Moya, J. L.
- Title
- Vortical Structures in Pool Fires: Observation, Speculation, and Simulation.
- Coporate
- Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM
SINTEF/NTH, Trondheim, Norway
Naval Air Warfare Center, China Lake, CA
- Report
-
UC-722-2607,
November 1996,
101 p.
- Keywords
-
pool fires
|
structures
|
simulation
|
hazardous materials
- Abstract
- This report describes observations, speculaitons, and numerical simulations of vortical structures in pool fires. Vortical structures are observed in fires with length scales ranging from those that bend millimeter-thick flame zones to those that entrain air many meters from the edge of the fire to its centerline. We propose that baroclinic vorticity generation is primarily responsible for production of rotational motion at small scale and that amalgamation is responsible for the production of large-scale rotational structures form the myriad of small-scale structures. Numerical simulaitons show that vortical structures having time-mean definitions can be resolved with a Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) approach. However, for vortical structures without time-mean definition, RANS is inappropriate, and another technique, such as Large Eddy Simulation (LES), should be employed.