Studies on fire behavior in a confined compartment based on reduced-scale experiment

Abstract

Abstract.A reduced-scale compartment model was built to investigate the fire behavior in a confined compartment. Three different sizes of pool fire were involved in this study. And the fire behaviors in open space were also studied to compare with which in the confined compartment. The results shows the fire in confined space associated with larger pool exhibits a sharper growth and decrease in mass burning rate(MBR); meanwhile, a larger pool led to higher top MBR. When compare the fires in confined space with open space, the fires in open space got their top burning rate earlier, and they exhibited stronger and more frequent fluctuation. The influence brought by confined compartment on the fire was more pronounced in smaller pool fire. The processes of heat release rate (HRR) in confined compartment was also obtained.