Changes in Fire Characteristics of Liquid Fuel depending on Ventilation Conditions in a Reduced-Scale Compartment

Abstract

In the performance-based design (PBD) process of buildings, citing fire sources without considering possible changes in the combustion environment may reduce the reliability of the fire risk assessment. To prevent such errors, the effect of the ventilation condition variations on the fire characteristics was investigated. The ventilation area of a 1/4 scaled ISO 9705 was gradually modified and n-heptane was selected as fuel. Experimental results showed that, under the same compartment and fuel conditions, the initial combustion of combustibles was accelerated and boiling occurred earlier as the ventilation area decreased. In contrast , the fire growth rate, maximum heat release rate, and total heat released from boiling decreased as the ventilation area decreased. The analysis of the internal flow field using numerical simulation confirmed that the circulation flow generated depending on the ventilation conditions affected the chemical characteristics within the compartment, leading to a decrease in the fire scale during the peak period.