When a fire occurs in a ventilation confined compartment, the fire gradually weakened and finally self-extinguishes due to the oxygen concentration in the compartment will decrease and eventually below the flammable limit. Meanwhile, a large amount of high-temperature combustible substance is generated in the compartment during this period by pyrolysis or evaporation of fuel. When the compartment ventilation is improved, such as the window is broken, fresh air flows into the compartment and mix with high-temperature combustible substances and lead to the fire occurs again. This special phenomenon during the development of a compartment fire is called backdraft. In addition, a large amount of high-temperature combustible substances is accumulated in the compartment before the backdraft occurs. Therefore, once a backdraft occurs, it always leads to a flashover, which means a fire has reached fully development stage and is out of control. Hence, a backdraft will lead to substantial finical loss and heavy casualties. To investigate the influence of compartment opening area on backdraft time, we conducted fire experiments of solid fuel in a reduced-scale compartment. The temperature and the gas concentration in the compartment were measured by thermocouples and gas analyzer, respectively. Results show that the backdraft time of solid fuel would become shorter as the opening area of the compartment increases. The results of this research could improve the understanding of the backdraft mechanism of solid fuel and provide a strategy to delay or even restrain the backdraft occurrence for firefighters.
| Published in | American Journal of Civil Engineering (Volume 9, Issue 5) |
| DOI | 10.11648/j.ajce.20210905.14 |
| Page(s) | 173-176 |
| Creative Commons |
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited. |
| Copyright |
Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group |
Backdraft, Small-Scale Experiment, Solid Fuel
| [1] | Croft, W. M., 1980. Fires involving explosions — A literature review. Fire Saf. J. |
| [2] | Chitty, R. A., 1994. Survey of backdraft. London: Fire Research Station. 5.. |
| [3] | Bukowski, R. W., 1996. Modeling a Backdraft Incident: The 62 Watts Street (New York) Fire. Fire Eng. J. |
| [4] | Tinaburri, A., Mazzaro, M., 2006. Modeling a real backdraft incident fire, in: WIT Transactions on Engineering Sciences. |
| [5] | Mao, J., Xi, Y. H., Bai, G., Fan, H. M., Ji, H. Z., 2011. A model experimental study on backdraught in tunnel fires. Fire Saf. J. |
| [6] | Park JW, Oh CB, Han YS, Do KH, 2017. Computational study of backdraft dynamics and the effects of initial conditions in a compartment. J Mech Sci Technol. |
| [7] | Fleischmann, C. M., Pagni, P. J., Williamson, R. B., 1992. Preliminary backdraft experiments, Proceedings of 12th Joint Panel Meeting of the UJNR Panel on Fire Research and Safety, Tsukuba, Japan. |
| [8] | Fleischmann, C. M., 1993. Backdraft phenomena, Ph.D. Dissertation, University of California, Berkley, USA. |
| [9] | Fleischmann, C. M., Pagni, P. J., Williamson, R. B., 1993. Exploratory backdraft experiments. Fire Technol. |
| [10] | Fleischmann, C., Pagni, P., Williamson, R., 1994. Quantitative Backdraft Experiments. Fire Saf. Sci. |
| [11] | Fleischmann, C., Pagni, P., Williamson, R., 1994. Salt Water Modeling Of Fire Compartment Gravity Currents. Fire Saf. Sci. |
| [12] | Fleischmann, C. M., McGrattan, K. B., 1999. Numerical and experimental gravity currents related to backdrafts. Fire Saf. J. |
| [13] | Gottuk, D. T., Peatross, M. J., Farley, J. P., Williams, F. W., 1999. Development and mitigation of backdraft: A real-scale shipboard study. Fire Saf. J. |
| [14] | Weng, W. G., Fan, W. C., 2003. Critical condition of backdraft in compartment fires: A reduced-scale experimental study. J. Loss Prev. Process Ind. |
| [15] | Weng, W. G., Fan, W. C., Yang, L. Z., Song, H., Deng, Z. H., Qin, J., Liao, G. X., 2003. Experimental study of back-draft in a compartment with openings of different geometries. Combust. Flame. |
| [16] | Gong, J., Yang, L., Chen, X., Guo, Z., 2006. Theoretical analysis of the backdraft phenomena induced by liquid fuel. Chinese Sci. Bull. |
| [17] | Wu, J., Zhang, Y., Gou, X., Yan, M., Wang, E., Liu, L., 2011. Experimental research on gas fire backdraft phenomenon, in: Procedia Environmental Sciences. |
| [18] | Chen, A., Zhou, L., Liu, B., Chen, W., 2011. Theoretical analysis and experimental study on critical conditions of backdraft. J. Loss Prev. Process Ind. |
| [19] | Wu CL, Santamaria S, Carvel R, 2020. Critical Factors Determining the Onset of Backdraft Using Solid Fuels. Fire Technol. |
| [20] | Tsai, L. C., Chiu, C. W., 2013. Full-scale experimental studies for backdraft using solid materials. Process Saf. Environ. Prot. |
| [21] | Ha S, Oh CB, 2019. Large Eddy Simulation of Backdraft Using the Eddy Dissipation Concept Combustion Model. Fire Sci Eng. |
| [22] | Ha S, Oh CB, 2019. Geometric Effects of Compartment Opening on Fuel-Air Mixing and Backdraft Behavior. Fire Sci Eng. |
| [23] | Myilsamy D, Oh CB, Choi B Il, 2019. Large eddy simulation of the backdraft dynamics in compartments with different opening geometries. J Mech Sci Technol. |
| [24] | Ashok SG, Echekki T, 2020. A Numerical Study of Backdraft Phenomena under Normal and Reduced Gravity. Fire Saf J. |
| [25] | Król A, Król M, Krawiec S, 2020. A numerical study on fire development in a confined space leading to backdraft phenomenon. Energies. |
APA Style
Jianlong Zhao, Yanfeng Li, Jinxiang Wu. (2021). Effect of the Opening Area of Compartment on the Backdraft Time. American Journal of Civil Engineering, 9(5), 173-176. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajce.20210905.14
ACS Style
Jianlong Zhao; Yanfeng Li; Jinxiang Wu. Effect of the Opening Area of Compartment on the Backdraft Time. Am. J. Civ. Eng. 2021, 9(5), 173-176. doi: 10.11648/j.ajce.20210905.14
AMA Style
Jianlong Zhao, Yanfeng Li, Jinxiang Wu. Effect of the Opening Area of Compartment on the Backdraft Time. Am J Civ Eng. 2021;9(5):173-176. doi: 10.11648/j.ajce.20210905.14
Share This Article
Twitter
Linked In
Facebook
Copy
Download@article{10.11648/j.ajce.20210905.14,
author = {Jianlong Zhao and Yanfeng Li and Jinxiang Wu},
title = {Effect of the Opening Area of Compartment on the Backdraft Time},
journal = {American Journal of Civil Engineering},
volume = {9},
number = {5},
pages = {173-176},
doi = {10.11648/j.ajce.20210905.14},
url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajce.20210905.14},
eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ajce.20210905.14},
abstract = {When a fire occurs in a ventilation confined compartment, the fire gradually weakened and finally self-extinguishes due to the oxygen concentration in the compartment will decrease and eventually below the flammable limit. Meanwhile, a large amount of high-temperature combustible substance is generated in the compartment during this period by pyrolysis or evaporation of fuel. When the compartment ventilation is improved, such as the window is broken, fresh air flows into the compartment and mix with high-temperature combustible substances and lead to the fire occurs again. This special phenomenon during the development of a compartment fire is called backdraft. In addition, a large amount of high-temperature combustible substances is accumulated in the compartment before the backdraft occurs. Therefore, once a backdraft occurs, it always leads to a flashover, which means a fire has reached fully development stage and is out of control. Hence, a backdraft will lead to substantial finical loss and heavy casualties. To investigate the influence of compartment opening area on backdraft time, we conducted fire experiments of solid fuel in a reduced-scale compartment. The temperature and the gas concentration in the compartment were measured by thermocouples and gas analyzer, respectively. Results show that the backdraft time of solid fuel would become shorter as the opening area of the compartment increases. The results of this research could improve the understanding of the backdraft mechanism of solid fuel and provide a strategy to delay or even restrain the backdraft occurrence for firefighters.},
year = {2021}
}
TY - JOUR T1 - Effect of the Opening Area of Compartment on the Backdraft Time AU - Jianlong Zhao AU - Yanfeng Li AU - Jinxiang Wu Y1 - 2021/11/05 PY - 2021 N1 - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajce.20210905.14 DO - 10.11648/j.ajce.20210905.14 T2 - American Journal of Civil Engineering JF - American Journal of Civil Engineering JO - American Journal of Civil Engineering SP - 173 EP - 176 PB - Science Publishing Group SN - 2330-8737 UR - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajce.20210905.14 AB - When a fire occurs in a ventilation confined compartment, the fire gradually weakened and finally self-extinguishes due to the oxygen concentration in the compartment will decrease and eventually below the flammable limit. Meanwhile, a large amount of high-temperature combustible substance is generated in the compartment during this period by pyrolysis or evaporation of fuel. When the compartment ventilation is improved, such as the window is broken, fresh air flows into the compartment and mix with high-temperature combustible substances and lead to the fire occurs again. This special phenomenon during the development of a compartment fire is called backdraft. In addition, a large amount of high-temperature combustible substances is accumulated in the compartment before the backdraft occurs. Therefore, once a backdraft occurs, it always leads to a flashover, which means a fire has reached fully development stage and is out of control. Hence, a backdraft will lead to substantial finical loss and heavy casualties. To investigate the influence of compartment opening area on backdraft time, we conducted fire experiments of solid fuel in a reduced-scale compartment. The temperature and the gas concentration in the compartment were measured by thermocouples and gas analyzer, respectively. Results show that the backdraft time of solid fuel would become shorter as the opening area of the compartment increases. The results of this research could improve the understanding of the backdraft mechanism of solid fuel and provide a strategy to delay or even restrain the backdraft occurrence for firefighters. VL - 9 IS - 5 ER -
Email: