Module 2

Praveen Vijayan
Assistant Professor

prep. by Praveen Vijayan

COMPARTMENT FIRES

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SMOKE- DANGEROUS EFFECT

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fire load
• The fire load of a facility, industrial entity, process plant or
building, is the heat energy that could be released per square
meter of the floor area of a compartment, by the complete
combustion of the contents of the unit area and any combustible
parts of the unit.
𝑤𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑏𝑢𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑏𝑙𝑒𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡×𝐶𝑎𝑙𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑓𝑖𝑐 𝑣𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒
• 𝐹𝑖𝑟𝑒 𝑙𝑜𝑎𝑑 =
𝐹𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑟 𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑎 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡
• Fire grading of buildings :It encompasses steps to secure proper
subdivision of large buildings by walls and floors of adequate fire
resistance.

prep. by Praveen Vijayan

Work for you
• Find out more about fire grading and fire resistance of the buildings

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• As per IS code (Fire grading of buildings 1946) 3 major classifications
exist: LOW, MODERATE, HIGH.
• LOW: ordinary buildings for residential purpose, hotels, offices
schools etc. or occupancies having fire load not exceeding 275000
kcal/m2 of net floor area of compartment, nor exceeding 550000
kcal/m2 on limited isolated area.
• MEDIUM/ MODERATE: Retail shops, bazars, stalls, factories etc.
having fire load exceeding 275000 kcal/m2 of net floor area of
compartment, nor exceeding 1100000 kcal/m2 on limited isolated
area.

prep. by Praveen Vijayan

• HIGH FIRE LOAD : godowns, ware houses etc. having fire load not
exceeding 550000 kcal/m2 on limited isolated area, not exceeding
average of 1100000 kcal/m2 floor area

prep. by Praveen Vijayan

Calculate fire load
• A room has size 10mx5m and contains following combustibles:
• wooden furniture: 100 kg
• P U foam furniture :20 kg
• Plastic bottles : 1 kg
Calculate fire load

Take CV of wood as 12 MJ/kg,

PU : 25 MJ/kg
Plastic (polyethylene
terephthalate):18 MJ/kg

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Heat Transfer in Compartments
• Conduction
• Convection
• Radiation

While it is probable that all three contribute in every fire, it is often found
that one predominates at a given stage, or in a given location.

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prep. by Praveen Vijayan
Conduction

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 Conduction
• It is important in problems relating to ignition and spread of flame over
combustible solids and to fire resistance, where knowledge of heat transfer
through compartment boundaries and into elements of the structure is required.
• Conduction is the mode of heat transfer associated with solids. Although it also
occurs in fluids, it is normally masked by convective motion in which heat is
dissipated by a mixing process driven by buoyancy.
• It is common experience that heat will flow from a region of high temperature to
one of low temperature; this flow can be expressed as a heat flux, which in one
direction is given by:

Fourier’s law of
𝑑𝑇 heat conduction
𝑄 = −𝐾
𝑑𝑥
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Assumptions made in Fourier’s Law

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• As a general rule, materials which are good thermal conductors are also good
electrical conductors. This is because heat transfer can occur as a result of
interactions involving free electrons whose movement constitutes an electric
current when a voltage is applied.
• In insulating materials, the absence of free electrons means that heat can only be
transferred as mechanical vibrations through the structure of the molecular lattice,
which is a much less efficient process.

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prep. by Praveen Vijayan
Thermal resistance

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Thermal Inertia
• The thermal inertia of a material is related to three key properties of that
material. These are thermal conductivity, k, density, ρ, and heat capacity,
Cp.
• The thermal inertia of a material characterizes the rate at which the
surface temperature of that material will rise when it is exposed to heat.
• It governs how much heat energy will be transferred through the material
to the other side in one case, or alternatively, if heat cannot transfer
through the material, it indicates how quickly the surface temperature of
the material might rise to a critical temperature for pyrolysis and/or
ignition.
• Materials such as brick and insulation have low thermal inertia; metals
have high values.
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• Thermal inertia is very closely related to the concept of thermally
thick and thermally thin solids.
• "Thermally thin" does not necessarily relate to the thickness of the
solid, but rather the time it takes to transfer heat from one side of a
solid to another.
• When a thermally thin material is exposed to heat, the temperatures
on the back and front sides of the object will increase in temperature
due to the rapid transfer of heat through the material.

prep. by Praveen Vijayan

prep. by Praveen Vijayan
Convection

prep. by Praveen Vijayan Source: NIST website

Convection
• convection is that mode of heat transfer to or from a solid involving
movement of a surrounding fluid.
• The empirical relationship first discussed by Newton is:

𝑄 = ℎ𝐴(𝑇2 − 𝑇1 ) Equation known as

Newton’s law of
cooling
h: heat transfer
coefficient

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Heat transfer coefficients are usually
expressed like..

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 (Problems using these non-dimensional numbers are only
for understanding.)
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Free and Forced Convection.

FREE/NATURAL FORCED
the molecules move due to density and temperature In forced convection, the fluid molecules are forced to
variation. move by an external source.
The rate of heat transfer is lower. The rate of heat transfer is higher.
External equipment is necessary for convective heat
No external equipment is required.
transfer eg. Pump, Blower, fan, etc

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convective heat transfer coefficient
• h is known as the convective heat transfer coefficient.
• Unlike thermal conductivity, is not a material constant. It depends on
the characteristics of the system, the geometry and orientation of the
solid and the properties of the fluid, including the flow parameters. In
addition, it is also a function of temperature difference.
• The evaluation of h for different situations has been one of the major
problems in heat transfer and fluid dynamics. Typical values lie in the
range 5–25 W/m2·K for free convection and 10–500 W/m2·K for
forced convection in air.

prep. by Praveen Vijayan

Convective Heat Transfer in Compartment
Fire
• 800° to 1000°C is typical of fully involved fire conditions in a compartment.
• For a cold target surface at 20°C, we would then expect convective heat fluxes of
10 to 20 kW/m2
• Turbulent flame tip the maximum temperature is only 350°C approximately.
Hence, the associated convective heat flux is only approximately 3 kW/m2; not
sufficient to ignite anything.
• Need to be noted that the direct flame contact could convectively ignite objects.
• But we will see that the radiative component in turbulent fires and in fully
developed compartment fires can be much more, and can drown the convective
contribution.
• For that reason, convective heat transfer is not a principal factor in fire heat
transfer, but its presence cannot be overlooked.

prep. by Praveen Vijayan

Radiation

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Radiation
• According to the Stefan–Boltzmann equation, the total energy
emitted by a body is proportional to T 4, where T is the temperature
in Kelvin.
• The total emissive power is expressed as:

where σ is the Stefan–Boltzmann

constant (5.67 × 10−8 W/m2K4) and ε
is a measure
of the efficiency of the surface as a
radiator, known as the emissivity

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Emissivity
• Emissivity is defined as the ratio of the energy radiated from a
material's surface to that radiated from a perfect emitter, known as a
blackbody, at the same temperature and wavelength and under the
same viewing conditions.

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Absorptivity, Reflectivity and Transmissivity

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Black, White and Grey
• A black body is an idealized physical body (object) that can absorb all
the incident electromagnetic radiation (Absorptivity is 1).
• White body: whose surface absorbs no electromagnetic radiation of
any wavelength, that is, one which exhibits zero absorptivity for all
wavelengths
• Most objects are not perfect blackbody absorbers or emitters -- they
are said to be "grey"

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View Factor/Shape Factor/Configuration
factor
• The shape factor is a function of the spatial orientation between
surfaces. Shape factor is mainly depending on the geometry of body,
incident and leaving radiation on the body.
• the proportion of the radiation which leaves surface A that
strikes surface B

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prep. by Praveen Vijayan
• “What is the radiant heat flux incident on a nearby object?”
• In the UK, permissible building separation distances are calculated on the basis
that the exterior of one building must not be exposed to a heat flux of more than
1.2 W/cm2 (12 kW/m2) if an adjacent building is involved in fire . This level of
radiant flux is commonly assumed to be the minimum necessary for the pilot
ignition of wood
• The view factor is a function of the flame shape. Consequently, most
integral or empirical mathematical models of fires will assume some kind
of simplified flame shape which is then used to calculate the view factor.

Fig. example of calculation:

minimum distance with view
factor (φ) concept.

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view factors can be obtained from charts like this for common
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configurations (only an example)
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Heat fraction by radiation - Qrad

Fig. Example of radiant heat fractions

prep. (based on experimental data)
by Praveen Vijayan
 (a) Located at an angle, away
from the jet fire, view factor
OR shape factor F= 0.05

(b) Located at an angle close

Calculate the radiant heat flux to the jet fire, F= 0.4
received on (a) and (b) from
the jet fire, if 10 kg/s propane
gas is leaking.
Take CV of propane as 45
MJ/kg
Assume a radiant fraction of
0.3
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CALCULATING RADIATION FROM
FLAME TO TARGET (simplest way)
• Radiation to the surroundings can be approximated as isotropic, or as
emanating from a point source. (Modak’s simple method; Point
Source Model)

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prep. by Praveen Vijayan
Numerical Problem for understanding
Consider the situation:
• The spatial separation between the exposed building (Building 2) and the
fire source (Building 1) is 18.98m.
• For the purposes of ensuring ultra-conservative measures the area of
Building 1 is assumed to be one compartment.
• A worse case fire scenario will be assessed to calculate the radiant heat flux
(in kW/m2) emitted from Building 1 .
• This calculation is based on the total fire load available in the building, to
determine if it is of sufficient value to ignite combustibles in adjacent
buildings (Building 2); i.e. to determine if Building 1 poses as an exposure
hazard.

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prep. by Praveen Vijayan
 Pallet stack:
Given: 30 wooden pallet stacks. The heat
>Radiant heat fraction =0.3
> 12.5 kW/m2 as the threshold value for release rate per stack is given: 1531
ignition in Building (2) kW

Wooden shelves:
2 wooden shelves are there each
weighing 30 kg. CV of shelf wood is
16 MJ/kg.

Surface burning rate, r = 0.009

kg/s/m2
Wooden pallets
Wooden shelf
Surface area per shelf: 175.9 m2
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• Consider all 90 wooden pallets and 2 small shelving units are burning
simultaneously. Location of these pallets is on the south end of
Building 1 facing the north side of Building 2 for the least possible
distance. (we are considering the worst scenario)
• The critical value for ignition of the adjacent unprotected wooden
building is 12.5 kW/m2. This radiant heat has to travel a distance that
exceeds 18.98 m to cause damage to building 2.

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• Flames can be of different colour-determined by the type of fuel and
conditions of burning. Basically we can classify them to luminous and
non-luminous flames.

Fig (c)

Fig (a)

Fig (b)prep. by Praveen Vijayan

#work for you
• Find out when will flames have different colours as in fig (a) in the
previous slide?
• What is flame test in chemistry?

prep. by Praveen Vijayan

Radiation from Hot Gases and Non-luminous Flames

• Non-luminous flames have very low emissivity [e.g. methanol and

paraformaldehydes]
• The characteristic yellow luminosity is the net effect of emission from
minute carbonaceous particles, known as “soot,” with diameters of the
order of 10-100 nm which are formed within the flame, mainly on the
fuel side of the reaction zone.
• The fractions of different species primarily influence radiation
behaviours.
• For example : homonuclear diatomic molecules such as N2, O2 and H2
are completely transparent in this range, while heteronuclear molecules
such as CO, CO2, H2O and HCl absorb (and emit) in certain
discretewavelength bands. prep. by Praveen Vijayan
Fig. SEM image of soot particles from diesel engine
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Radiation from Luminous Flames and Hot
Smoky Gases
• Soot causes luminous behaviour
• Soot may be consumed as they pass through the oxidative region of the flame,
but otherwise they will escape from the flame tip to form smoke.
• While within the flame, individual soot particles attain high temperatures and
each will act as a minute black (or ‘grey’) body. The resulting emission spectrum
from the flame will be continuous, and the net emissive power will be a function
of the particle concentration and the flame thickness (or mean beam length, L).
• the presence of soot particles in the flame provides the mechanism for radiative
heat loss, the ‘sootier’ the flame, the lower its average temperature.

prep. by Praveen Vijayan

#question for you
• If Pre mixed flame and Diffusion flame have same size and
temperature, which will radiate more heat? Why?

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FLAME CHARACTERISTICS

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• In natural fires, usually buoyancy is the predominant driving force.
• These flames have a much less ordered structure and are more
susceptible to external influences (such as air movement) than jet
flames.
• Flames can get highly turbulent – based on the heat release rate
• Flames and its impact are strongly affected by environmental
conditions

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prep. by Praveen Vijayan
 FLAME CHARACTERISTICS
In most fire safety engineering applications we are concerned with the so-called buoyant,
turbulent diffusion flame
• Diffusion:
• Diffusion flames refer to the case where fuel and oxygen are initially
separated, and mix through the process of diffusion. Burning and
flaming occur where the concentration of the mixture is favorable to
combustion.
• Although the fuel and the oxidant may come together through turbulent
mixing, the underlying mechanism is molecular diffusion
• This is the process in which molecules are transported from a high to
low concentration. Opposite to this is the premixed flame ,as is the case
with a welder’s torch, where the fuel and the oxidant are mixed before
ignited.
• Flames in accidental fires are nearly always characterized as diffusion
flames.
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• Buoyancy:
• When a mass of hot gases is surrounded by colder gases, the
hotter and less dense mass will rise upward due to the density
difference, or rather, due to buoyancy.
• The upward velocity of the flow within a flame will be dominated
by the buoyancy force if the velocity at which the fuel is injected
is not exceptionally high.
• Opposite to the buoyancy-dominated flames are the flows
formed above a high-pressure gaseous fuel source (for
example, a ruptured pipeline under high pressure). Such fires
have the effect of exit momentum deciding their morphology
called jet fires.

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Flame at 1 gravity Flame at micro gravity,
(buoyancy action (absence of buoyant
makes the flame action makes the flame
more vertical, and more spherical)
lean)

Fig. Effect of buoyancy on flames

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Fig. Effect of buoyancy on horizontally oriented
jet flames

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• Turbulence:
• Very small diffusion flames can be laminar, such as the flame on a
candle. Larger diffusion flames are turbulent and will fluctuate with
periodic oscillations with large eddies shedding at the flame edge.
• The eddies, which are visible in turbulent plumes (more so in
momentum-driven plumes than in buoyancy-driven ones), roll up
along the outside of the plume and are a result of the instability
between the hot flame and the cold air.
• These random fluctuations, which are characteristic of turbulence,
will give rise to periodic flame height (and shape) fluctuations.
• The fluctuations normally have a frequency of the order of 1–3 Hz,
i.e., will occur between one and three times per second; in general,
this shedding depends on fire diameter.

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Figure shows a characteristic sketch of this phenomenon where L
is the visible flame height as a function of time. In our treatment
we consider only time–mean results, i.e., the mean flame height,
denoted L , given in meters.

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Definition of mean flame height:
• In order to provide engineering equations allowing calculation of the
flame height, we must first define the mean flame height.
• This is most conveniently done by averaging the visible flame height over
time. The luminosity of the lower part of the flaming region appears fairly
steady.
• The upper part fluctuates or, in other words, is intermittent.
• The graph in Figure 4.3 is generally used to define the mean flame height.

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• The intermittency, denoted as I, is shown on the vertical axis,
where a value of 1 indicates the appearance of a flame at all
times. The horizontal axis shows the distance above the fire
source, z
• The height at which the intermittency is 0.5, i.e., the height
above which flame appears half the time, is defined as the
mean flame height, L
• The experimental procedures for measuring flame

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Mean Flame length
calculation –example only

Image source: [Link]

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FLAME HEIGHT CORRELATIONS
Why flame height calculations are important?

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Ref_Text: Enclosure Fire Dynamics, CRC Press
Image source: experiments conducted
prep. by Praveenat TRAG, IIT Roorkee. Fuel: Bio diesel
Vijayan
 Heat Release Rate and Flame Height
• Heat release rate is the single most important variable in fire
hazard
Most correlations
express flame height
as a function of HRR
(Q)or Q* (Non-
dimensional HRR) or
Non-dimensional
numbers like
Fr(Froude no)

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Graph only for your understanding
• Due to the turbulent nature of the flames, we cannot provide engineering
equations for flame heights that are derived from first principles. We must
therefore investigate which properties influence the flame height and use
experimental data to express the flame height in terms of the dominating
properties.
• The nondimensional Froude number, denoted Fr, is used in hydraulics
when describing liquid flows, also approximately applicable to the high-
temperature gas in the flames. Fr denotes the effect of source momentum
with respect to buoyancy.

This term is
called as
source Froude
number
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prep. by Praveen Vijayan
Most accidental fires have
low Q*; less than 10

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• For fires which are buoyancy dominated (low Q* or low Fr)- One of
the most useful such equations, presented by Heskestad, gives
good results for the different regimes.
Note: in these
correlations, fire source
is considered as circle.
If the source is any
Another form of the above eqn is: other shape, find
equivalent diameter,
(Put HRR (Q) in kW) Deq=sqrt (4. area/pi)

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 Example 1
A pool of oil is spilled into a square shape sump of area 2m2 and started
burning. The heat release rate (HRR) is 1.69 MW.
Calculate :
a) Equivalent circular diameter
b) Non-dimensional HRR
c) Flame height by Heskestad relation

Given: air density 1.1 kg/m3, ambient temperature: 25oC

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prep. by Praveen Vijayan
Example 2
• LPG gas leaking from a pipe at 0.5 m/s velocity has met with an
ignition source. Leak hole diameter is 3mm. Estimate the flame height
of the resulting flame. Can you use Heskestad relation here?
• Given: Room air temperature is 300 K. Density is 1.2 kg/m3. Cp is 1
kJ/kgK

prep. by Praveen Vijayan

Flame length (flame height) calculation-
summary
• Flame length (flame height) is proportional to heat release rate.
Higher the HRR, greater will be the height.
• Flame length can be expressed as a function of non-dimensional
numbers like Froude number, Q* etc. Each of these numbers can
demarcate different flow regimes.
• Flame height correlations like Hesketed relations discussed have
applicability only in the buoyancy dominated regime (Q*<1000). Most
accidental fires have Q*<10.

prep. by Praveen Vijayan

Fire Plume

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Fire plume
• A fire plume may be defined as the motion generated by a source of
buoyancy which exists by virtue of combustion and may incorporate an
external source of momentum.
• Knowledge of fire plumes is important in solving many practical fire
protection problems, for example, problems associated with fire detection,
smoke filling rates of indoor spaces, fire venting, fire heating of structural
elements of buildings, compartment fires, and indoor/outdoor thermal
radiation hazards.
• Such knowledge can also be important in the design of fire suppression
systems as related, for example, to the penetration of water drops to the
base of a fire.

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 Question for you:
Will there be heat radiation from plume? What all factors will affect
the amount of radiation?

Fig (a) different

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regions in flame
Fig. Fire Plume

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prep. by Praveen Vijayan
• Fire plumes can be characterized into various groups depending
on the scenario under investigation.
• The plume most commonly used in fire safety engineering, the
so-called buoyant axisymmetric plume , caused by a diffusion
flame formed above the burning fuel.
• An axis of symmetry is assumed to exist along the vertical
centerline of the plume.
• Other fire plume categories include, for example, line plumes,
which may be formed above a long and narrow burner, allowing
air to be entrained from two sides only as the hot gases rise

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• The axisymmetric fire plume is conventionally divided into the three zones, as shown in
Figure.
• In the continuous flame zone the upward velocity is near zero at the base and increases
with height.
• In the intermittent flame zone the velocity is relatively constant, and in the far field zone
the velocity decreases with height.

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• Figure below shows some of the characteristics of a buoyant
aaxisymmetric plume.

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prep. by Praveen Vijayan
prep. by Praveen Vijayan
Summary-Plume characteristics
• Fire plume has 3 distinct parts: continuous, intermittent, buoyant.
• These three have different variations in velocity, mass flow rate and
temperature. The variations of these 3 parameters throughout the
plume height (z) is also discussed. (Fig 4.6)
• Definitions of various terms related to plume- plume radius, plume
velocity etc.

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Ideal Plume
• A very simple type of a fire plume, sometimes referred to as the Ideal
Plume or the Point-source plume.

Point source and

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Ideal plume consideration has many assumptions like:
• We assume the simple case of a point source of heat at height z = 0. The
energy is considered to be totally transported in the plume, and no radiative
heat is emitted from the point source.
• The energy is considered to be totally transported in the plume, and no
radiative heat is emitted from the point source. The force driving the system
can therefore be assumed to arise due to the density difference of the hot air
above the point and the cold surrounding air
• We assume that the density variations throughout the plume height are small
and only need to be considered when the difference appears directly.
Sometimes even 𝜌∞ ≈ 𝜌 is considered.
• We assume that the velocity, temperature, and force profiles are of similar
form independent of the height, z
• We assume that the air entrainment at the edge of the plume is proportional
to the local gas velocity in the plume, so that the entrainment velocity can be
written as v =  · u, where  is a constant and is taken to be 0.15 in most
cases. prep. by Praveen Vijayan
the mass plume flow at height z:

equation for the plume temperature difference at height z:

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problem

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solution

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ceiling jet
• When a plume impinges on a ceiling, hot gases spread out radially to form a so-called
ceiling jet.
• Most fire detection and fire suppression devices are placed near the ceiling surfaces. The
magnitude and temperature of the ceiling jet flow determine to a great degree the
response time of this equipment, and it is therefore important to quantify these ceiling jet
parameters. We will, in this section, seek relationships for the velocities and temperatures
in the ceiling jet.
• Such information can be useful when estimating radiative heat transfer to objects, as well
as for other engineering calculations.

prep. by Praveen Vijayan

Fire Detectors
• One of the most important problems in fire protection is the rapid
detection of fire in a room while the fire is sufficiently small to be
easily controlled.
• It is desirable to detect a fire as quickly as possible.
• The most common devices used as detectors, depend on a movement
of hot products of combustion directly to a sensor. These combustion
products contain good amount of thermal energy

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prep. by Praveen Vijayan
The Response of Ceiling-mounted Fire
Detectors
• Temperature under a ceiling could be related to the size of the fire ( ˙Qc),
the height of the ceiling (H) and the distance from the axis of the fire plume
(r).
• Heat transfer to the ceiling mounted sensing elements calculation is done
in order to estimate the ‘response time’.

prep. by Praveen Vijayan

Response Time Index (RTI).
• The thermal sensitivity of a sprinkler measures how quickly the
thermal element operates. Perhaps the most common way of
measuring thermal sensitivity is the response time index (RTI).
• Sprinklers are categorized into fast or standard response based on
their RTI.

Source: NFPA
website
prep. by Praveen Vijayan
τ :Time constant of the detector in
test condition,
u0: flow rate –test condition

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Fire sprinkler

• A fire sprinkler system is an active fire protection method,

consisting of a water supply system, providing adequate
pressure and flowrate to a water distribution piping system, onto
which fire sprinklers are connected.

prep. by Praveen Vijayan