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Flame Heights and Heat Transfer in Façade System Ventilation Cavities

Livkiss, Karlis LU ; Svensson, Stefan LU ; Husted, Bjarne LU and van Hees, Patrick LU (2018) In Fire Technology 54(3). p.689-713
Abstract

The design of buildings using multilayer constructions poses a challenge for fire safety and needs to be understood. Narrow air gaps and cavities are common in many constructions, e.g. ventilated façade systems. In these construction systems flames can enter the cavities and fire can spread on the interior surfaces of the cavities. An experimental program was performed to investigate the influence of the cavity width on the flame heights, the fire driven upward flow and the incident heat fluxes to the inner surfaces of the cavity. The experimental setup consisted of two parallel facing non-combustible plates (0.8 × 1.8 m) and a propane gas burner placed at one of the inner surfaces. The cavity width between the plates ranged from 0.02 m... (More)

The design of buildings using multilayer constructions poses a challenge for fire safety and needs to be understood. Narrow air gaps and cavities are common in many constructions, e.g. ventilated façade systems. In these construction systems flames can enter the cavities and fire can spread on the interior surfaces of the cavities. An experimental program was performed to investigate the influence of the cavity width on the flame heights, the fire driven upward flow and the incident heat fluxes to the inner surfaces of the cavity. The experimental setup consisted of two parallel facing non-combustible plates (0.8 × 1.8 m) and a propane gas burner placed at one of the inner surfaces. The cavity width between the plates ranged from 0.02 m to 0.1 m and the burner heat release rate was varied from 16.5 kW to 40.4 kW per m of the burner length. At least three repeated tests were performed for each scenario. In addition, tests with a single plate were performed. The flame heights did not significantly change for Q′/W < 300 kW/m2 (where Q′ is the heat release rate per unit length of the burner and W is the cavity width). For higher Q′/W ratios flame extensions up to 2.2 times were observed. When the distance between the plates was reduced or the heat release rate was increased, the incident heat fluxes to the inner surface increased along the entire height of the test setup. The results can be used for analysing methodologies for predicting heat transfer and fire spread in narrow air cavities.

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author
; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Flame height, Flow velocity, Heat flux, Ventilated façade
in
Fire Technology
volume
54
issue
3
pages
689 - 713
publisher
Springer
external identifiers
  • scopus:85045061523
ISSN
0015-2684
DOI
10.1007/s10694-018-0706-2
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
f1941776-e14a-479e-89c9-ecc3e75b780c
date added to LUP
2018-04-20 15:20:25
date last changed
2023-04-08 11:14:13
@article{f1941776-e14a-479e-89c9-ecc3e75b780c,
  abstract     = {{<p>The design of buildings using multilayer constructions poses a challenge for fire safety and needs to be understood. Narrow air gaps and cavities are common in many constructions, e.g. ventilated façade systems. In these construction systems flames can enter the cavities and fire can spread on the interior surfaces of the cavities. An experimental program was performed to investigate the influence of the cavity width on the flame heights, the fire driven upward flow and the incident heat fluxes to the inner surfaces of the cavity. The experimental setup consisted of two parallel facing non-combustible plates (0.8 × 1.8 m) and a propane gas burner placed at one of the inner surfaces. The cavity width between the plates ranged from 0.02 m to 0.1 m and the burner heat release rate was varied from 16.5 kW to 40.4 kW per m of the burner length. At least three repeated tests were performed for each scenario. In addition, tests with a single plate were performed. The flame heights did not significantly change for Q′/W &lt; 300 kW/m<sup>2</sup> (where Q′ is the heat release rate per unit length of the burner and W is the cavity width). For higher Q′/W ratios flame extensions up to 2.2 times were observed. When the distance between the plates was reduced or the heat release rate was increased, the incident heat fluxes to the inner surface increased along the entire height of the test setup. The results can be used for analysing methodologies for predicting heat transfer and fire spread in narrow air cavities.</p>}},
  author       = {{Livkiss, Karlis and Svensson, Stefan and Husted, Bjarne and van Hees, Patrick}},
  issn         = {{0015-2684}},
  keywords     = {{Flame height; Flow velocity; Heat flux; Ventilated façade}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{02}},
  number       = {{3}},
  pages        = {{689--713}},
  publisher    = {{Springer}},
  series       = {{Fire Technology}},
  title        = {{Flame Heights and Heat Transfer in Façade System Ventilation Cavities}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10694-018-0706-2}},
  doi          = {{10.1007/s10694-018-0706-2}},
  volume       = {{54}},
  year         = {{2018}},
}