Experimental study of fire spread between multiple full scale informal settlement dwellings

Cicione, Antonio; Walls, Richard; Kahanji, Charles

doi:10.1016/j.firesaf.2019.02.001

Cited by 41 publications

(77 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…In general, the heat fluxes experienced during the timber clad experiment were higher than the steel clad experiment, as listed in Table 1, indicating that fire spread to an adjacent dwelling is more likely to occur for the timber dwellings. This is similar to the findings in [19]. The timber dwelling did, however, experience a quicker time to collapse (similar to the findings in [25]), indicating that the heat flux experienced by an adjacent dwelling will be over a shorter period.…”

Section: Timber Clad Isd Resultssupporting

confidence: 84%

“…This is clear when considering the hot layer build up before the cardboard ignites, and then considering the hot layer during the burning of cardboard. The radiation from the hot layer did still contribute towards the ignition of the cribs, but in a less substantial way in compar- ison to the radiation from the cardboard, similar to the findings in [19]. The ceiling temperatures predicted by the FDS model are slightly underpredicted, but the general trend compares well to the experiment i.e.…”

Section: Corrugated Steel Sheeting Clad Results and Comparisonsupporting

confidence: 78%

“…The average steady state heat flux at 1 m away from the door (Level A) was 32 kW/m 2 . The heat fluxes experienced in this experiment are extremely high when considering the Critical Heat Flux (CHF) of cardboard of 8-10 kW/m 2 [23,24] cent dwelling is typically exposed to these heat fluxes as a result of poor construction methods, or gaps as a result of the flutes [19]. This indicates that at 1 m spacing between dwellings, rapid fire spread will occur, highlighting the risk of these closely spaced dwellings.…”

Section: Corrugated Steel Sheeting Clad Isd Resultsmentioning

confidence: 93%

“…Additionally, as a result of continuously changing ventilation conditions, the timber clad dwelling had substantial fluctuations in heat flux values, whereas the steel clad dwelling reached a steady state seconds after flashover. Regardless of the factors mentioned above, the average heat flux values for timber dwelling are still enough to ignite adjacent dwellings and are more prone to fire spread than steel dwellings, even if the burning period is only 3 min [19].…”

Section: Timber Clad Isd Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This work forms part of an overall project to understand fire behaviour in informal settlements. Previous work has focused on results from preliminary single dwellings experiments [5], results from multi-dwelling experiments considering inter-dwelling spread [19], the development of a simplified FDS model to describe the aforementioned multi-dwelling experiment [20], analysis of large-scale spread in a real fire disaster that affected over 2000 homes [11], and the appraisal of fire safety interventions to be used in such settlements [21].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Full-Scale Informal Settlement Dwelling Fire Experiments and Development of Numerical Models

et al. 2019

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Section: Timber Clad Isd Resultssupporting

confidence: 84%

Section: Corrugated Steel Sheeting Clad Results and Comparisonsupporting

confidence: 78%

Section: Corrugated Steel Sheeting Clad Isd Resultsmentioning

confidence: 93%

Section: Timber Clad Isd Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Full-Scale Informal Settlement Dwelling Fire Experiments and Development of Numerical Models

et al. 2019

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Towards a simplified fire dynamic simulator model to analyse fire spread between multiple informal settlement dwellings based on full‐scale experiments

Cicione

Walls

2020

Fire and Materials

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This paper develops a Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS) model to analyse fire spread for informal settlements, based upon full-scale experiments. Informal settlements are frequently ravaged by fires, leaving thousands of people homeless, and with more than 1 billion people residing in informal settlements, there is a significant need to understand and improve the fire safety in such areas. Due to high levels of uncertainty inherent with input parameters regarding informal settlements, this work also investigates the sensitivity of fire behaviour to the input parameters used in numerical simulations.It is shown that spread times between two dwellings can vary from 1 minute after flashover to no spread at all, depending on the simulation input parameters selected. This paper highlights the importance of such input parameters when trying to model fire spread between dwellings. The simulations indicate that a simplified fire spread model for informal settlements is possible, especially for steel clad dwellings, however it showed that significant work is required for timber clad dwellings, that is, because the rate at which additional ventilation forms in the simulation for the timber clad dwellings is significantly slower than reality, which is as a result of the simplifications made. The simplification of using heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems to model leakages, resulting from the corrugated flutes, showed good enclosure fire dynamics behaviour compared to the experiments, but created new challenges with regards to the spread mechanism, since HVAC systems do not allow electromagnetic waves to penetrate in the same manner as an opening.

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Determination of water application rates required for communities to suppress post‐flashover informal settlement fires based on numerical modelling and experimental tests

Löffel

Walls

2020

Fire and Materials

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SummaryFires originating in informal settlements (ie, slums, ghettos, shantytowns, squatter camps) spread rapidly, due to the presence of densely packed, highly combustible dwellings, thereby making these communities inherently susceptible to large conflagrations. By the time, the fire brigades are notified and can get to the scene of the fire, the resulting conflagrations can be large. Thus, it is necessary to equip communities with the ability to combat smaller fires, although it is acknowledged that this is not ideal. Previous full‐scale testing and firefighter experience have shown that water application through ‘bucket brigades’ can be very effective at suppressing fires. In this article, a model is developed for approximately quantifying the amount of water, and discharge rate, that is, required for communities to suppress fires of various sizes using bucket brigades. This is done to answer the question: based on the water supply infrastructure in an area could a community put out post‐flashover fires of certain sizes? If this is not feasible, it would highlight the importance of communities having readily available pre‐filled water buckets at homes. The model presented is developed in fire dynamics simulator and is calibrated based on full‐scale experiments utilizing the bucket brigade technique. It is shown that standpipe discharge rates of 23 to 40 lpm are suitable for fire sizes of around 3.85 MW, based on a dwelling size of 2.4 x 3.6 x 2.4 m. This means that in communities with a single stand‐pipe (water supply point) with flow rates less than 23 lpm, that fires greater than 3.85 MW (as produced by a home of 2.4 x 3.6 m with a timber fuel load of 25 kg/m2) cannot be suppressed in time without resulting in substantial fire spread to adjacent dwellings.

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Experimental study of fire spread between multiple full scale informal settlement dwellings

Cited by 41 publications

References 7 publications

Full-Scale Informal Settlement Dwelling Fire Experiments and Development of Numerical Models

Full-Scale Informal Settlement Dwelling Fire Experiments and Development of Numerical Models

Towards a simplified fire dynamic simulator model to analyse fire spread between multiple informal settlement dwellings based on full‐scale experiments

Determination of water application rates required for communities to suppress post‐flashover informal settlement fires based on numerical modelling and experimental tests

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