Full-Scale Experiments of Fire Control and Suppression in Enclosed Car Parks: A Comparison Between Sprinkler and Water-Mist Systems

Abstract

Recent efforts to investigate car-park fires and understand the related mechanisms have fostered the need for analyses of suppression performance against this type of fire scenario. This work aims at providing an insight into the ability of sprinklers and water-mist systems to control and extinguish a fire within an enclosed car park through a series of real-scale experiments. Three cars were employed in each test: the central one was ignited by a heptane pool fire and the adjacent ones served as targets. Two configurations were explored: in the first one, a nozzle was placed directly at the vertical axis of the ignition source, whereas the ignition source was located between the area coverage of four nozzles in the second one. The sprinkler system mainly served as a reference; two values of discharge density were evaluated for water mist at high operative pressure and a biodegradable surfactant was also tested against the most challenging configuration. A quantitative analysis of free-burn and discharge phases by temperature measurements was coupled with radiant heat-flux measurements and an assessment of post-fire damage. Sprinkler and water-mist systems were capable of containing the fire spread and thermally controlling the fire, thus preventing structural damage. The water mist’s ability to overpower the plume and reach the burning surfaces proved more effective than that of sprinklers, especially as no nozzles were located right above the ignition surface. The higher discharge density showed better capability of preventing re-ignition phenomena and suppression was attained in both the investigated configurations, which suggests that a certain amount of flux is also needed to achieve flame cooling. The additive had promising impact on suppression performance; however, more tests are required to specifically explore its ability to enhance thermal control

Structural Performance of Outdoor Mechanical Garages under Combustion Conditions

“…This value determines the amount of heat released per unit mass of gasoline burned, which is crucial in calculating HRR, as shown in Equation (2). It is generally considered that the maximum HRR for car fires is 3 MW [40].…”

Indoor Fire Simulation in Low-Rise Teaching Buildings Based on BIM–FDS

“…The traditional WSS mainly achieves the fire extinguishing effect by directly spraying and cooling the fire source. Water mist also has the same cooling effect, but its sprayed droplets are smaller in diameter, resulting in faster heat absorption and evaporation and a better cooling effect [21]. At the same time, the water mist will be suspended in the form of dense droplet particles around the ignition point, blocking the heat transfer from the fire source to the surrounding material [22].…”

Effectiveness of Swirl Water Mist Nozzles for Fire Suppression

“…On the contrary, the momentum and mass of droplets generated by water mist systems may not be sufficient to penetrate deep into the flame area. Although evaporation is the main factor preventing the water mist droplets from reaching the flame, by using higher inlet pressure at the nozzle, the water mist droplets are still able to penetrate the flame area [ 22 ].…”