Experimental investigation of effects of ullage height on the burning rate and heat feedback in pool fires

Xiang Zhang, Jinlong Zhao, Xinjiang Li, Hong Huang, Jianping Zhang

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Abstract

Pool fire with varying ullage height is a common type of accident that occurs in industrial parks. This paper explores the ullage height effects on the burning rate and heat feedback in pool fires through the experimental and theoretical study. A series of experiments were conducted using heptane with four tray sizes and five ullage heights. The results show that, the burning rate initially decreases, then increases and finally decreases as the ullage height increases. These results are mainly dependent on the change of internal flame behavior and thus heat feedback mechanisms with increasing ullage height. In the small ullage height conditions, the convective heat feedback reduces substantially whereas the radiative one rises slightly. When the ullage height reaches to a certain value, the convective heat feedback suddenly increases because of the flame inside the tray. The radiative heat feedback decreases gradually as the ullage height increase continually, while the convective one becomes nearly constant. Based on these results, three regimes are identified in terms of the burning rate variation with heat feedback: (1) convection controlled, (2) convection-radiation controlled and (3) radiation controlled. The new controlling mechanism of the burning rate variation (with ullage height), as a further extension of the classic scaling model by Blinov and Khudyakov on the burning rate variation (with pool diameter), could lay a solid foundation for future studies of the other key parameters in tank fires.
Original languageEnglish
Article number105175
Pages (from-to)1-12
Number of pages12
JournalCase Studies in Thermal Engineering
Volume62
Early online date21 Sept 2024
DOIs
Publication statusPublished online - 21 Sept 2024

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2024

Data Access Statement

Data will be made available on request.

Keywords

  • Pool fire
  • Convective heat feedback
  • Radiative heat feedback
  • Ullage height
  • Burning rate

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