Assessment of the Burning Rate of Liquid Fuels in Confined and Mechanically-Ventilated Compartments using a Well-Stirred Reactor Approach

The objective of this work is to provide a ‘support tool’ to assess the burning rate of a pool fire in a well-confined and mechanically-ventilated room using a single-zone model based on conservation equations for mass, energy and oxygen concentration. Such configurations are particularly relevant for nuclear facilities where compartments are generally sealed from one another and connected through a ventilation network. The burning rates are substantially affected by the dynamic interaction between the fuel mass loss rate and the rate of air supplied by mechanical ventilation. The fuel mass loss rate is controlled by (i) the amount of oxygen available in the room (i.e. vitiation oxygen effect) and (ii) the thermal enhancement via radiative feedback from the hot gas to the fuel surface. The steady-state burning rate is determined by the ‘interplay’ and balance between the limiting effect of oxygen vitiation and the enhancing effect of radiative feedback. An extensive sensitivity study over a wide range of fuel areas and mechanical ventilation rates shows that a maximum burning rate may be obtained. For the studied HTP (Hydrogenated Tetra-Propylene) pool fires, the maximum burning rate is up to 1.75 times the burning rate in open air conditions.