Fire temperature development in enclosures : Some theoretical and experimental studies

Sammanfattning: This thesis is devoted to problems connected to heat transfer and fire dynamics in enclosures. The thesis consists of a main part which summarizes and discusses the theory of heat transfer, conservation of energy and fire dynamics. Based on these theories, some cases of different fire scenarios have been analyzed. In the end of this thesis, the reader will find Paper I-IV containing four articles on the subject.The main focus of this thesis is fire temperature development in enclosures. For that reason, firstly, some experimental studies have been done using different thermo devices for measuring temperature. Based on the experience from these studies, temperatures measured with a Plate Thermometer have been used to predict and describe in a quantitative way the thermal exposure of structures. For more accurate prediction of this thermal exposure, PT and thin thermocouples measurements have been combined.This thesis summarizes the experimental data from two different setups. One was conducted in a large enclosure 20 m by 20 m and 20 m high. This experiment scenario can be characterized as localized fire. Another experiment was conducted in a compartment in full scale with a limited fire source, without reaching flashover. This second experiment did not reach flashover and can be categorized as a two-zone compartment fire. Moreover, the thesis contains a new way of analyzing a one-zone fire model intended for the analysis of fully developed ventilation controlled compartment fires.Temperature data from the localized fire experiment were collected with different designs of Plate Thermometers (PT), small thermocouples (Ø=0.25 mm) and thermocouples fixed to a steel column. Measured data were compared with calculated data applying the concept of adiabatic surface temperature. Temperatures thus obtained by finite element calculations using the softwarecode TASEF were in the good agreement with measured steel temperatures. The full scale compartment fire was conducted in a two-story concrete building. During the experiment, data were collected with PTs and thin thermocouples at different locations inside the compartment.In the new way of analyzing post-flashover compartments fires the effects of different parameters on the fire temperature development has been analyzed. The new method of analyzing the heat and mass balances of a compartment fire has made it possible to develop simple analytical as well as numerical mathematical solutions.