Experimental study of fire plume temperature and radiant heat flux of a horizontal jet flame impinging a wall

Jet fire usually appears in natural gas fuel production and transportation due to uncontrolled fuel leakage. Jet fire can impinge on equipment surface or a passive firewall to make the fire plume temperature and the radiant heat flux complex. Experiments of a horizontal jet flame impinging a wall under various fuel initial velocity and nozzle-wall spacing were carried out. Results show the changing relationship between the amount of oxygen required and the actual amount of oxygen results in the different temperature distribution of fire plume on the wall surface. A new dimensionless number is proposed to determine the maximum rising temperature of fire plume on the wall surface. The fire plume volume and the distance between a certain position and fire plume within the viewing angle range of the radiometer, as two important factors, can explain the trend of radiant heat flux well. A virtual total radiant heat flux Q(v,tr) received by a core area of the horizontal jet fire impinging the wall is estimated. Q(v,tr) firstly increases, and then decreases with Z(n-w) increasing. Increasing fire plume volume and increasing distance between the wall and the fire plume have the opposite effect on controlling Q(v,tr) together.

Automated summary

This study investigates the impact of fuel initial velocity and nozzle-wall spacing on the temperature distribution of a horizontal jet flame impinging a wall. A new dimensionless number is proposed to determine the maximum rising temperature of the flame plume on the wall surface. The volume of the flame plume and the distance between the wall and the flame plume are identified as important factors that explain the trend of radiant heat flux.