Experimental study of the effect of ullage height on flame characteristics of pool fires

TY - JOUR

T1 - Experimental study of the effect of ullage height on flame characteristics of pool fires

AU - Liu, Chunxiang

AU - Ding, Long

AU - Jangi, Mehdi

AU - Ji, Jie

AU - Yu, Longxing

AU - Wan, Huaxian

PY - 2020/6

Y1 - 2020/6

N2 - A series of experiments were carried out to investigate the effect of ullage height, i.e. the distance between fuel surface and the pool upper rim, on flame characteristics of heptane and ethanol pool fires. The pool diameters included 10 cm, 15 cm, and 20 cm. For each pool, ullage height was increased from zero to the value that the flame self-extinguished. During each test, the ullage height was kept constant by a fuel level maintaining device. Results show that ullage height has a significant effect on flame characteristics. When the ullage height equals zero, there is a stable conical structure near the pool upper rim, above which the unstable plume develops. Under lower ullage height conditions, plume puffing happens. The unstable plume begins to initiate around the pool upper rim, then rolling and expanding upward. At the same time, its beneath flame is stretched thinner and thinner and eventually breaks from the bulk. When the ullage height further increases, plume puffing becomes less evident. While for the mass loss rate, it generally decreases with the increase of h/D. It was proved in literature that the previous flame height model is inapplicable to pool fires with large ullage height. In this paper, to consider the effect of ullage height on plume flow structures, an equivalent hydraulic diameter, Deq., is proposed to establish one new flame height correlation. By comparing previous model predictions with the current experimental data, it is found that conventional flame oscillation models are unsuitable to pool fires with large ullage height. Based on Deq., two new dimensional and dimensionless flame oscillation models were proposed according to the current experimental data. The correlated flame height model and proposed flame oscillation models were validated and agreed well with reference data.

AB - A series of experiments were carried out to investigate the effect of ullage height, i.e. the distance between fuel surface and the pool upper rim, on flame characteristics of heptane and ethanol pool fires. The pool diameters included 10 cm, 15 cm, and 20 cm. For each pool, ullage height was increased from zero to the value that the flame self-extinguished. During each test, the ullage height was kept constant by a fuel level maintaining device. Results show that ullage height has a significant effect on flame characteristics. When the ullage height equals zero, there is a stable conical structure near the pool upper rim, above which the unstable plume develops. Under lower ullage height conditions, plume puffing happens. The unstable plume begins to initiate around the pool upper rim, then rolling and expanding upward. At the same time, its beneath flame is stretched thinner and thinner and eventually breaks from the bulk. When the ullage height further increases, plume puffing becomes less evident. While for the mass loss rate, it generally decreases with the increase of h/D. It was proved in literature that the previous flame height model is inapplicable to pool fires with large ullage height. In this paper, to consider the effect of ullage height on plume flow structures, an equivalent hydraulic diameter, Deq., is proposed to establish one new flame height correlation. By comparing previous model predictions with the current experimental data, it is found that conventional flame oscillation models are unsuitable to pool fires with large ullage height. Based on Deq., two new dimensional and dimensionless flame oscillation models were proposed according to the current experimental data. The correlated flame height model and proposed flame oscillation models were validated and agreed well with reference data.

KW - Equivalent hydraulic diameter

KW - Flame characteristics

KW - Flame height

KW - Flame oscillation frequency

KW - Mass loss rate

KW - Ullage height

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85082682203&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.combustflame.2020.03.009

DO - 10.1016/j.combustflame.2020.03.009

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85082682203

VL - 216

SP - 245

EP - 255

JO - Combustion and Flame

JF - Combustion and Flame

SN - 0010-2180

ER -