Methods for Prediction of Temperature Distribution in Flashover Caused by Backdraft Fire

Zhang, Guowei; Zhu, Guoqing; Yuan, Guanglin; Huang, Lili

doi:10.1155/2014/707423

Cited by 4 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…The smoke gas explosion analyzed in the present paper was apparently not that well perceived. Phenomenologically, this situation was closer to what regular firefighters could be exposed to, and therefore trained to handle (e.g., flashover, smoke gas explosions, and backdraft scenarios [22,23]).…”

Section: Risk Perception and Training Programsmentioning

confidence: 93%

Analysis of a High-Voltage Room Quasi-Smoke Gas Explosion

2020

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During an air separation unit shut-down in a methanol production plant, a stop signal was sent to the control cabinet of a synchronous motor for a booster compressor. The control cabinet stopped magnetizing the rotor, while the system logic ensured that the power circuit breakers for the start reactor coils were opened, in order to be ready for the next start-up. Unintentionally, the circuit breaker was still connected (i.e., power was let through the reactors for a prolonged time period), which led to extensive overheating. Subsequently, the central control room received an unaddressed sub-station smoke alarm, and plant operators were sent out to locate the possible source of smoke. The accessible rooms were searched, and traces of smoke were confirmed. The Emergency Response Organization (ERO) was mustered and, through inspection, the Emergency Response Team (ERT) realized that the smoke originated from a ground floor high-voltage room. Fire hoses were arranged for fire extinguishing, and the ERT withdrew to wait for the room to be electrically isolated. About one minute after briefly opening the only set of doors to the high-voltage room, flames were observed, and a quasi-smoke gas explosion violently forced both door blades open and released a substantial fire ball. Personnel had been in the risk zone shortly before the explosion, but luckily no personnel were hit by the slamming door blades or the emerging flames. The incident revealed several learning points related to improper maintenance, ambiguous smoke alarm, lack of flame detectors in the high-voltage room, insufficient risk understanding and training regarding electrically related fire incidents, and the absence of an automatic fire suppression system. In plants processing hydrocarbons, the safety focus regarding hydrocarbon fire and explosion risk is paramount. However, risks related to electrical accidents and compartment fire dynamics (e.g., backdraft and smoke gas explosion) should also be given proper attention.

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Section: Risk Perception and Training Programsmentioning

confidence: 93%

Analysis of a High-Voltage Room Quasi-Smoke Gas Explosion

2020

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“…Additional efforts are made to account for the geometric effect of flashover conditions (Yu et al 2012;Zhang et al 2014;Li et al 2019;Kurzawski and Ezekoye 2020). Although their research outcomes provide substantial improvement for the development of flashover prediction models in multi-compartment structures, their models rely on assumptions that over-simplify the fire scenarios.…”

Section: Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

Predicting Flashover Occurrence using Surrogate Temperature Data

Tam

Wang

et al. 2021

AAAI

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Fire fighter fatalities and injuries in the U.S. remain too high and fire fighting too hazardous. Until now, fire fighters rely only on their experience to avoid life-threatening fire events, such as flashover. In this paper, we describe the development of a flashover prediction model which can be used to warn fire fighters before flashover occurs. Specifically, we consider the use of a fire simulation program to generate a set of synthetic data and an attention-based bidirectional long short-term memory to learn the complex relationships between temperature signals and flashover conditions. We first validate the fire simulation program with temperature measurements obtained from full-scale fire experiments. Then, we generate a set of synthetic temperature data which account for the realis-tic fire and vent opening conditions in a multi-compartment structure. Results show that our proposed method achieves promising performance for prediction of flashover even when temperature data is completely lost in the room of fire origin. It is believed that the flashover prediction model can facilitate the transformation of fire fighting tactics from traditional experience-based decision marking to data-driven decision marking and reduce fire fighter deaths and injuries.

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“…This can also make it difficult for firefighters to do their work and weaken structural integrity. 17,18…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Full-scale evaluation of fire-resistant building integrated photovoltaic systems with different installation positions of junction boxes

Huang

Lee

Chan

et al. 2017

Indoor and Built Environment

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Building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) systems are a promising strategy to integrate photovoltaic (PV) systems with building materials to reduce construction costs and add aesthetic features. In this study, a fire test in accordance with ISO 834-1:1999, CNS 14803-2010 and ISO 3008:2007 to provide the standard heating curve was carried out to investigate the fire-resistant characteristics based on the breaking behaviour and surface temperature distribution of type I and type II BIPV modules. The BIPV modules tested have both open and hidden junction-box (J-box) designs, with the aim of reducing fire risks. Our results show that the proposed type II BIPV module could resist the simulated room fire test for about 12 min without reducing any risk with regard to the J-box. Furthermore, the type II BIPV module could resist a fire test at temperatures of up to ∼1000℃ for 60 min with better compartment functionality when refractory glasses are employed. The BIPV fire test data reported in this study can help to improve the design and development of BIPV systems.

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Methods for Prediction of Temperature Distribution in Flashover Caused by Backdraft Fire

Cited by 4 publications

References 25 publications

Analysis of a High-Voltage Room Quasi-Smoke Gas Explosion

Analysis of a High-Voltage Room Quasi-Smoke Gas Explosion

Predicting Flashover Occurrence using Surrogate Temperature Data

Full-scale evaluation of fire-resistant building integrated photovoltaic systems with different installation positions of junction boxes

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