Energy balance in a confined fire compartment to assess the heat release rate of an electrical cabinet fire

Electrical cabinet fires are a major concern in nuclear power plants due to the significant impact on plant safety. This paper investigates electrical cabinet fires in highly confined and mechanically ventilated compartments. In particular, it addresses the issue of experimentally determining the heat release rate of an electrical cabinet fire through realistic large-scale testing. The fire source is highly complex in nature due to the heterogeneity, stochastic geometry and location of the combustible materials within the electrical cabinet. After providing a detailed description of the experiments and apparatus, this paper focuses on the thermal modeling necessary to assess the heat release rate based on the energy balance in the fire compartment, the ventilation system and the electrical cabinet itself. The experimental method is then applied to a propane gas burner and an analytical cabinet containing PMMA tiles with homogeneous spatial distribution in order to validate the thermal model and heat measurements. Finally, the method is used to assess the heat release rate and combustion efficiency of an electrical cabinet. The various terms of the energy balance are described in detail to show the major role of the thermal inertia of both the electrical cabinet and the compartment walls. (c) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.