Heat Transfer From a Buoyant Plume to an Unconfined Ceiling

Abstract

The heat transfer to ceilings during enclosure fires is related to the heat transfer to unconfined ceiling surfaces from buoyant plume driven ceiling jets. This paper briefly discusses this relationship, and then focuses attention on the unconfined ceiling problem. Previously published theoretical and experimental studies dealing with interactions of unheated free jets and solid surfaces, as well as literature which focuses directly on fire plume-unconfined ceiling interactions are brought to bear on the problem. A critical review of this literature results in easily applicable formulae for estimating the heat transfer in question.