Study of fire-extinguishing performance of portable water-mist fire extinguisher in historical buildings

This paper describes both theoretical and experimental studies on the application of a portable water mist extinguisher in suppressing flammable liquid and wood crib fires. At first, the interaction between water mist and fire plume is studied by analyzing the instantaneous process of fire extinction. And then, the feasibility in extinguishing diesel oil, gasoline and wood crib fires is studied by a series of experiments. Theoretical analysis and experimental results show that the extinguishing mechanisms and process change with the difference of water mist characteristics (such as water flux density, droplet velocity and diameter), and the portable water mist fire extinguisher with appropriate characteristics was able to extinguish Class A and Class B fires. It is a potential fire protection means for historical buildings. (C) 2010 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.