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Studies of the combined effects of some important factors on the likelihood of flashover
Author(s) -
Chen Aiping,
Yang Shousheng,
Dong Xilin
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
fire and materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.482
H-Index - 58
eISSN - 1099-1018
pISSN - 0308-0501
DOI - 10.1002/fam.1045
Subject(s) - enclosure , arc flash , ventilation (architecture) , environmental science , scale (ratio) , engineering , mechanical engineering , geography , telecommunications , electrical engineering , cartography , voltage
Among those factors that affect the likelihood of flashover in enclosure fires, the thermal inertia of lining materials, ventilation factor of door openings, heat release rate of fuel, and internal dimensions of the enclosure are the most important. The effects of the four factors are related, so it is very necessary to study their combined effects. In the present study, based on analyzing the approximate heat balance on the control volume similar to that in the MQH method, a dimensional relationship was derived that facilitates the estimation of pre‐flashover temperatures, which is used in the popular guidance literature as the key parameters for practical methods of predicting flashover. By correlating a vast amount of data gained in both small‐scale and large‐scale enclosure fire experiments, an important equation was obtained, which can embody explicitly and quantitatively the combined effects of the four important factors on the likelihood of flashover. According to the temperature criteria of 600°C identifying flashover, a new ‘combined method of predicting flashover’ was put forward. The validity of the method was verified in small‐scale experiments, and the results showed that it could be applied to predict well whether flashover occurs in enclosure fires or not. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.