Fire Dynamics (FIR802)
Dr Jianping Zhang
Room: 27A10 Email: j.zhang@uslter.ac.uk
Dr Svetlana Tretsiakova-Mcnally
Room: 27A06B Email: s.tretsiakova-mcnally@ulster.ac.uk
ulster.ac.uk
Outline
• Introductions
• Overview of Module Handbook
• Overview of Blackboard Area
• Introduction to
– Nature of fuels
– Development and spread of fires in enclousre
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Fire Loss Statistics
Canadian statistics – fire death rate (1997)
Why?
What is Fire Engineering?
Application of science and engineering principles to protect people,
property, and their environments from the harmful and destructive effects
of fire and smoke.
Fire Engineering Disciplines?
• Fire detection • Fire dynamics and fire modelling
• Active fire protection • Human behaviour
• Passive fire protection • Risk analysis
• Structural fire engineering • Building design
• Smoke control and management • Fire prevention programs
• Escape facilities • Wildfire management
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What is fire dynamics?
Fire dynamics is a study of how chemistry, fire science,
material science and the mechanical engineering
disciplines of fluid mechanics and heat transfer interact
to influence fire behaviour:
• Fire involves exothermic chemical reaction between
combustibles and oxygen
• Physical conditions of fuel and environment are also
important and fire dynamics replies on
– Fire chemistry
– Heat transfer
– Fluid mechanics
Fire dynamics and other disciplines
Structure
Fire detection
behaviour
Fire dynamics
Human
Fire protection
behaviour
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Rationale and Aims
• Module Rationale
This module is designed to provide a deep understanding of the chemical and physical
principles underlying fire development in buildings. Particular attention is given to the
chemical and physical processes associated with fire as a combustion system, fire
chemistry and toxicity, fire initiation, growth and spread in open and enclosed spaces.
Introduction is also given to mathematical methods of fire modelling.
• Overall Aims
The aims of this module are (i) to provide an environment wherein students can gain a
deep understanding of fire physics and chemistry, (ii) to assess the impact and
consequences of fire development, (iii) to utilise the knowledge for fire safety
engineering design.
Learning outcomes
1. Demonstrate a systematic understanding of the complex physical and chemical
processes of fire behaviour
2. Critically evaluate the complex inter-relationships between the key mechanisms
controlling fire growth and spread
3. Professionally select, apply, and interpret appropriate scientific based techniques
for analysing and synthesizing advanced problems and processes in various
aspects of fire behaviour
4. Explain the fundamentals and applications of computational fluids modelling (CFD)
in fire safety engineering
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Nature of fuels
• The range of fuels is very wide
– Simplest gaseous hydrocarbons
– Solids of high molecular weight and great chemical complexity
• All fuels will burn under appropriate conditions
– Oxygen
– Increased temperature
Nature of fuels
Flaming combustion
• Gaseous fuels (e.g., CH4) can be ignited in air to produce a flame
• Flame is a gas phase phenomenon and therefore flaming combustion
of liquid and solid fuels must involve their conversion to their gaseous
form
– For most liquids – evaporation (liquids with high boiling points (≥250 oC) may
undergo chemical decomposition before evaporation)
– For most solids, chemical decomposition or pyrolysis yields products of low
molecular weight which volatilise from the surface. Surface temperature of
burning solids ≈ 300 - 500 oC. Composition of volatiles is complex and depends
on the chemical nature of the solid
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Nature of fuels
Properties of typical gaseous and liquid fuels
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Nature of fuels Density, specific heat capacity and
thermal conductivity and the three most
Properties of typical solid fuels fundamental thermal properties
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Flames and fires
Turbulent flame
Laminar flame
Compartment fire
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Ignition and burning of solid
• Ignition is the starting point of qe "
Radiation loss
a fire/flame and involves a
material being heated up by an
external energy source (heat Convection loss
flux) to a certain temperature TS
(ignition temperature)
T k, , c
• If (sufficient) heat is k x0
x
continuously supplied, the
material will burn completely.
• Ignition temperature, 𝑻𝒊𝒈 (K or oC): the minimum temperature for a material to ignite
(piloted or spontaneous)
• Critical heat flux 𝒒̇ "𝒄𝒓𝒊𝒕 (kW/m2): the minimum heat flux to ignite (piloted or spontaneous)
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Flame spread
• Flame spread occurs typically on a solid Types of flame spread in
material and can generally be considered terms of orientation:
as a continuous ignition process, in which • Upward
the intimal flame and the ignition/burning of • Lateral
the material interact • Downward
(Leventon, 2013)
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Fire plume
• Directly above a fire, a column of hot gases and combustion products rises upward,
which is commonly known as a fire or thermal “plume.” As the hot gases rise, cooler
air is drawn in or entrained into the plume; this is known as “entrainment.”
z z
Plume
g .
Qc
Intermittent
entrainment T entrainment
Continuous
Flame
T0
z0
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Ceiling jet
• A ceiling jet is the relatively rapid gas flow in a shallow layer beneath the ceiling
surface which is driven by the buoyancy of the hot combustion products.
.
Q
H Ceiling jet is relevant
to the design of
detectors and
sprinklers
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Enclosure fires
Fire development inside
an enclosure depends on:
• Fire load
• Fire location
• Opening size
Important application:
• Smoke filling
• Estimation enclosure
gas temperature
• Estimate flashover time
(if any)
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Computer modelling
• A computer model is a simulation or model of a situation in the real world
or an imaginary world which has parameters which the user can alter.
• Fire modelling is used primarily to predict the spread of smoke and heat
from fires. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modelling is powerful
tool, which is most widely used fire modelling in building fires, to assess
fire safety of existing systems or develop new designs.
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Development and spread of fire in enclosure
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Development and spread of fire in enclosure
Temperature history
Decay Period
Heat release rate
Temperature/
Developing fire
Flashover
Time
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