Inhibition behavior and heat transfer of flame spread over liquid fuel with the influence of a step obstacle in the gas phase

Abstract

The transportation of oil is an important aspect of chemical process safety. In the accidental leakage of oil and related products, the flame spread occurs occasionally when the liquid fuel is activated by a pilot flame. In the potential application of fire prevention, a step obstacle placed above the oil ditch may effectively hinder the flame spread. The effectiveness of the usage of a step obstacle depends on the size of the obstacle and the heat exchange mechanism. Therefore, the investigation of inhibition behavior and heat transfer of liquid flame spread with gas step obstacle is performed. The hot fluids flow inside the channel to carry out the convection heat to the initial cold oils on the opposite of the gas step obstacle. The flame configuration is blocked behind the step obstacle. The flame spread behaviors including flame morphology, inhibition time, and air entrainment are characterized and analyzed. The heat flows of flame radiation and liquid‐phase convection are theoretically calculated, and the primary heat transfer mechanism is determined. This work is helpful for the development of fire safety technology and the establishment of standard specifications for oil transportation.