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Effect of the Opening Area of Compartment on the Backdraft Time

Received: 6 September 2021     Accepted: 25 October 2021     Published: 5 November 2021
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Abstract

When a fire occurs in a ventilation confined compartment, the fire gradually weakened and finally self-extinguishes due to the oxygen concentration in the compartment will decrease and eventually below the flammable limit. Meanwhile, a large amount of high-temperature combustible substance is generated in the compartment during this period by pyrolysis or evaporation of fuel. When the compartment ventilation is improved, such as the window is broken, fresh air flows into the compartment and mix with high-temperature combustible substances and lead to the fire occurs again. This special phenomenon during the development of a compartment fire is called backdraft. In addition, a large amount of high-temperature combustible substances is accumulated in the compartment before the backdraft occurs. Therefore, once a backdraft occurs, it always leads to a flashover, which means a fire has reached fully development stage and is out of control. Hence, a backdraft will lead to substantial finical loss and heavy casualties. To investigate the influence of compartment opening area on backdraft time, we conducted fire experiments of solid fuel in a reduced-scale compartment. The temperature and the gas concentration in the compartment were measured by thermocouples and gas analyzer, respectively. Results show that the backdraft time of solid fuel would become shorter as the opening area of the compartment increases. The results of this research could improve the understanding of the backdraft mechanism of solid fuel and provide a strategy to delay or even restrain the backdraft occurrence for firefighters.

Published in American Journal of Civil Engineering (Volume 9, Issue 5)
DOI 10.11648/j.ajce.20210905.14
Page(s) 173-176
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Backdraft, Small-Scale Experiment, Solid Fuel

References
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Cite This Article
  • APA Style

    Jianlong Zhao, Yanfeng Li, Jinxiang Wu. (2021). Effect of the Opening Area of Compartment on the Backdraft Time. American Journal of Civil Engineering, 9(5), 173-176. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajce.20210905.14

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    ACS Style

    Jianlong Zhao; Yanfeng Li; Jinxiang Wu. Effect of the Opening Area of Compartment on the Backdraft Time. Am. J. Civ. Eng. 2021, 9(5), 173-176. doi: 10.11648/j.ajce.20210905.14

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    AMA Style

    Jianlong Zhao, Yanfeng Li, Jinxiang Wu. Effect of the Opening Area of Compartment on the Backdraft Time. Am J Civ Eng. 2021;9(5):173-176. doi: 10.11648/j.ajce.20210905.14

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ajce.20210905.14,
      author = {Jianlong Zhao and Yanfeng Li and Jinxiang Wu},
      title = {Effect of the Opening Area of Compartment on the Backdraft Time},
      journal = {American Journal of Civil Engineering},
      volume = {9},
      number = {5},
      pages = {173-176},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ajce.20210905.14},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajce.20210905.14},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ajce.20210905.14},
      abstract = {When a fire occurs in a ventilation confined compartment, the fire gradually weakened and finally self-extinguishes due to the oxygen concentration in the compartment will decrease and eventually below the flammable limit. Meanwhile, a large amount of high-temperature combustible substance is generated in the compartment during this period by pyrolysis or evaporation of fuel. When the compartment ventilation is improved, such as the window is broken, fresh air flows into the compartment and mix with high-temperature combustible substances and lead to the fire occurs again. This special phenomenon during the development of a compartment fire is called backdraft. In addition, a large amount of high-temperature combustible substances is accumulated in the compartment before the backdraft occurs. Therefore, once a backdraft occurs, it always leads to a flashover, which means a fire has reached fully development stage and is out of control. Hence, a backdraft will lead to substantial finical loss and heavy casualties. To investigate the influence of compartment opening area on backdraft time, we conducted fire experiments of solid fuel in a reduced-scale compartment. The temperature and the gas concentration in the compartment were measured by thermocouples and gas analyzer, respectively. Results show that the backdraft time of solid fuel would become shorter as the opening area of the compartment increases. The results of this research could improve the understanding of the backdraft mechanism of solid fuel and provide a strategy to delay or even restrain the backdraft occurrence for firefighters.},
     year = {2021}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - Effect of the Opening Area of Compartment on the Backdraft Time
    AU  - Jianlong Zhao
    AU  - Yanfeng Li
    AU  - Jinxiang Wu
    Y1  - 2021/11/05
    PY  - 2021
    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajce.20210905.14
    DO  - 10.11648/j.ajce.20210905.14
    T2  - American Journal of Civil Engineering
    JF  - American Journal of Civil Engineering
    JO  - American Journal of Civil Engineering
    SP  - 173
    EP  - 176
    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2330-8737
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajce.20210905.14
    AB  - When a fire occurs in a ventilation confined compartment, the fire gradually weakened and finally self-extinguishes due to the oxygen concentration in the compartment will decrease and eventually below the flammable limit. Meanwhile, a large amount of high-temperature combustible substance is generated in the compartment during this period by pyrolysis or evaporation of fuel. When the compartment ventilation is improved, such as the window is broken, fresh air flows into the compartment and mix with high-temperature combustible substances and lead to the fire occurs again. This special phenomenon during the development of a compartment fire is called backdraft. In addition, a large amount of high-temperature combustible substances is accumulated in the compartment before the backdraft occurs. Therefore, once a backdraft occurs, it always leads to a flashover, which means a fire has reached fully development stage and is out of control. Hence, a backdraft will lead to substantial finical loss and heavy casualties. To investigate the influence of compartment opening area on backdraft time, we conducted fire experiments of solid fuel in a reduced-scale compartment. The temperature and the gas concentration in the compartment were measured by thermocouples and gas analyzer, respectively. Results show that the backdraft time of solid fuel would become shorter as the opening area of the compartment increases. The results of this research could improve the understanding of the backdraft mechanism of solid fuel and provide a strategy to delay or even restrain the backdraft occurrence for firefighters.
    VL  - 9
    IS  - 5
    ER  - 

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Author Information
  • College of Architecture and Civil Engineering, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing, China

  • College of Architecture and Civil Engineering, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing, China

  • School of Energy and Environmental Engineering, Hebei University of Technology, Tianjin, China

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