Compartment fire growth

ENGR 403 – Fire Engineering

Module 2
 Compartment fire growth
Suggested readings

z FEDG – Chapter 4, Fire Behaviour

z FEDG – Chapter 6, Post-flashover Fires
z PFB – Chapter 9, Compartment Fires

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 Compartment fire growth

z Incipient (eg. electrical spark, frictional heating etc)

z Ignition
z Flame spread
z Compartment fire development
‰ Smoke filling
‰ ‘Flashover’
‰ Post-flashover fire
z Building fire spread

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 Compartment fire growth

z Ceiling jet phase

‰ Hot, buoyant plume gases collide with the ceiling
and spread out radially forming a ceiling jet
‰ As the ceiling jet moves across the ceiling heat is
lost to the boundary and air is entrained causing the
temperature to drop

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 Compartment fire growth

z Smoke filling phase

‰ Begins when ceiling jet reaches the boundaries
‰ The hot or upper layer has a relatively uniform
temperature and species profile except for in the
plume and ceiling jet
‰ This phase last until the layer drops below the top
of the openings

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 Compartment fire growth

z Pre-flashover vented phase

‰ Begins when smoke flows from openings
‰ Mass balance in and out of smoke layer influenced
by size, shape, and height of opening and by
mechanical ventilation
‰ Hot layer radiates energy down onto other items in
the compartment

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 Compartment fire growth

z Flashover phase
‰ All combustible items ignite simultaneously
‰ Transition from a localised fire to the general conflagration
within the compartment when all fuel surfaces are burning.
‰ Transition from a fuel controlled fire to ventilation
controlled fire
‰ Sudden propagation of flame through the unburned gases
and vapour under the ceiling

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 Compartment fire growth

z Post-flashover phase
‰ Conditions are relatively uniform throughout space
‰ Burning rate inside room is restricted by air flow into
room
‰ Flames from openings is indication of ventilation
limited condition

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 Compartment fire growth

z Typical fire development

Ref : FEDG,
Figure 4.2
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 Compartment fire growth

z The ventilation factor Ao H o , for n openings

Ref: Karlsson &

Quintiere, p.129

n =1
where
n =1 n =1 ∑A h n n
Ao = ∑n
An = ∑n
bn hn
Ao
; Ho = n

We can also find the total internal surface area from

At = 2(l1l2 + l1l3 + l2l3 )
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 Compartment fire growth

z Rate of heat release to reach flashover Q& fo (MW)

Q& fo = 0.0078 At + 0.378 Ao H o

z Maximum fire size Q& max (MW) is often ventilation controlled

i.e. limited by air that can enter compartment

Q& max = 1.5 Ao H o

z Where sufficient air is supplied, the fire is fuel controlled e.g.

fires in the open, fires that are small compared with openings
z If Q& max < Q& fo it is unlikely flashover will occur

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 Compartment fire growth

z Compartment layer temperature using MQH

(McCaffrey, Quintiere, Harkleroad) approximation
1/ 3
⎡ &2
Q ⎤
θ = 6.85⎢ ⎥
⎢⎣ (hA)( Ao H o ) ⎥⎦
where
h is the heat loss coefficient (kW/m2.K)
θ is the temperature rise (˚C or K)
Q& is the rate of heat release (kW)
A is the internal area of the interior construction
material (m2)

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 Compartment fire growth

z The heat loss coefficient h found from the maximum

kρc k
of or
t δ

where
t is the time (s)
δ is the thickness of the interior construction (m)
kρc is the thermal inertia (kW2.s/m4.K2)
k is the thermal conductivity (kW/m.K)
z MQH method is valid for θ ≤ ~ 600 ˚C

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 Compartment fire growth

z MQH can be used for several wall, ceiling and floor materials by
summing hA values for each where A is the surface area of
each material
z If there is only one material then A is At as defined before

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