Spray fire induced gas temperature characteristics and correlations in a ceiling ventilated compartment

Spray fire, one of the common fires, often occurs in ship cabin and results in serious economic loss and casualties. However, there are few literatures [1-3] in terms of compartment spray fire, especially its gas temperature characteristics. Hence, a series of spray fire experiments were conducted in a 2m x 2m x 1.88 m ceiling ventilated compartment. It is found that the injecting pressure and ceiling vent size have significant effect on gas temperature. Gas temperature increases with the increase of injecting pressure and the increase in ceiling vent size results in a higher maximum gas temperature. The gas heat gain dominates the total heat transfer. The percentage of gas heat gain decreases with the ceiling vent size while the heat transfer through ceiling vent and compartment walls increases. For estimating the time-dependent average gas temperature in the combustion process, a simplified model was developed according to the thermal analyses, which shows good agreement with experimental data. Furthermore, based on M-Q-H method, a dimensionless analysis was performed for the total average gas temperature rise during the whole combustion process and the corresponding correlation was established, which can be applicable to estimate the gas temperature in ceiling ventilated compartment spray fire scenario.