Comprehensive Assimilation of Fire Suppression Modeling and Simulation of Radiant Fire by Water and Its Synergistic Effects with Carbon Dioxide

Abstract

Recently, water has been employed as a supportive agent for the preparation of multiple suppressing agents including aqueous film forming foams (AFFF), which is combined with different kinds of gases for its various applications. In this study, the water mist is chosen for the gas-suppressing agent such as carbon dioxide. Our work investigated the suppression effects of water droplets on the n-heptane pool fire, and its mixture with carbon dioxide, respectively. The size and frequency of droplets with their effect on temperature and suppression was compared to observe the difference in the suppression. Initially, it was found that the droplets having a larger droplet size were found to be more efficient as compared to the smaller droplets with respect to the heat release rate, temperature, and radiation. Afterwards, a mixture of water droplets and carbon dioxide was simultaneously discharged to compare the difference between these two suppressing agents. It was found that the synergistic effect of the mixture has higher advantages over the use of only water suppression. It helps reduce the hot gases that surround the pool fire and allows the water mist to travel efficiently towards the fuel. Both suppression mechanisms were set to similar initial parameters that lead to different outcomes.