On water mist fire suppression mechanisms in a gaseous diffusion flame

C. C. Ndubizu; R. Ananth; P. A. Tatema; V. Motevalli

doi:10.1016/S0379-7112(98)00007-1

On water mist fire suppression mechanisms in a gaseous diffusion flame

C. C. Ndubizu, R. Ananth, P. A. Tatema, V. Motevalli

School of Science, Engineering & Technology (Harrisburg)

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

83 Scopus citations

Abstract

This work is motivated by the urgent need to find an alternative to the banned halogen-based fire suppressing agents. Fine water mist is a contending alternative especially in total flooding applications. To obtain an optimum design of a water mist fire suppression system, one needs to understand the mechanisms of fire suspension by water mist. This paper presents a study of the relative contributions of the suppression mechanisms in a gaseous diffusion flame. A modified Wolfhard-Parker burner was used to measure temperature drops in a 2D methane diffusion flame, when various quantities of nitrogen, steam and water mist were added independently in a co-flow arrangement. A simple model of the flame was used to estimate the heat generation and loss processes taking place in the flame when small amounts of various suppressants were added. The results of both experiments and the analysis show that in a co-flow arrangement the addition of small quantities of fine water mist has more gas phase cooling effect on the flame than oxygen dilution effect. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	253-276
Number of pages	24
Journal	Fire Safety Journal
Volume	31
Issue number	3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/S0379-7112(98)00007-1
State	Published - Oct 2 1998

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

Chemistry(all)
Materials Science(all)
Safety, Risk, Reliability and Quality
Physics and Astronomy(all)

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10.1016/S0379-7112(98)00007-1

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title = "On water mist fire suppression mechanisms in a gaseous diffusion flame",

abstract = "This work is motivated by the urgent need to find an alternative to the banned halogen-based fire suppressing agents. Fine water mist is a contending alternative especially in total flooding applications. To obtain an optimum design of a water mist fire suppression system, one needs to understand the mechanisms of fire suspension by water mist. This paper presents a study of the relative contributions of the suppression mechanisms in a gaseous diffusion flame. A modified Wolfhard-Parker burner was used to measure temperature drops in a 2D methane diffusion flame, when various quantities of nitrogen, steam and water mist were added independently in a co-flow arrangement. A simple model of the flame was used to estimate the heat generation and loss processes taking place in the flame when small amounts of various suppressants were added. The results of both experiments and the analysis show that in a co-flow arrangement the addition of small quantities of fine water mist has more gas phase cooling effect on the flame than oxygen dilution effect. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.",

author = "Ndubizu, {C. C.} and R. Ananth and Tatema, {P. A.} and V. Motevalli",

note = "Funding Information: We thank Drs K. Kailasanath, K. Prasad and C. Li of the Laboratory of Computational Physics, in NRL for their useful comments. The assistance of Roger Brown, Glenn Salmon and Howard Burchell in the experiments is appreciated. The work described in this paper was performed by the Chemistry Division of the Materials Science and Component Technology Directorate, Naval Research Laboratory. The work was funded by the office of Naval Research, Code 334, under the Damage Control Task of the FY97 BA2 Surface Ship Hull, Mechanical, and Electrical Technology Program (PE0602121N). ",

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AU - Motevalli, V.

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PY - 1998/10/2

Y1 - 1998/10/2

N2 - This work is motivated by the urgent need to find an alternative to the banned halogen-based fire suppressing agents. Fine water mist is a contending alternative especially in total flooding applications. To obtain an optimum design of a water mist fire suppression system, one needs to understand the mechanisms of fire suspension by water mist. This paper presents a study of the relative contributions of the suppression mechanisms in a gaseous diffusion flame. A modified Wolfhard-Parker burner was used to measure temperature drops in a 2D methane diffusion flame, when various quantities of nitrogen, steam and water mist were added independently in a co-flow arrangement. A simple model of the flame was used to estimate the heat generation and loss processes taking place in the flame when small amounts of various suppressants were added. The results of both experiments and the analysis show that in a co-flow arrangement the addition of small quantities of fine water mist has more gas phase cooling effect on the flame than oxygen dilution effect. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.

AB - This work is motivated by the urgent need to find an alternative to the banned halogen-based fire suppressing agents. Fine water mist is a contending alternative especially in total flooding applications. To obtain an optimum design of a water mist fire suppression system, one needs to understand the mechanisms of fire suspension by water mist. This paper presents a study of the relative contributions of the suppression mechanisms in a gaseous diffusion flame. A modified Wolfhard-Parker burner was used to measure temperature drops in a 2D methane diffusion flame, when various quantities of nitrogen, steam and water mist were added independently in a co-flow arrangement. A simple model of the flame was used to estimate the heat generation and loss processes taking place in the flame when small amounts of various suppressants were added. The results of both experiments and the analysis show that in a co-flow arrangement the addition of small quantities of fine water mist has more gas phase cooling effect on the flame than oxygen dilution effect. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.

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On water mist fire suppression mechanisms in a gaseous diffusion flame

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