Experimental Investigation on Diesel Fire Toxicity in a Compartment Under Different Pool Locations

The objective of this study is to investigate how the location of fire source impacts the species generation. From the standpoint of fire safety, toxicity need to be estimated from the product gases evolved under different conditions of pool fire inside the compartment. However, industries like chemical, nuclear and thermal power plants also possess fuel positions significantly above the floor level inside an enclosure. Also, marine diesel fuel storage position in the ship cabin is just above the base, which implies an elevated pool fire conditions. In the present investigation, the severity of product gases with different pan diameters (ranges from 0.2 to 0.8 m) along with diesel fuel pan elevations in terms of toxicity were analysed. In order to study the behaviour of various fuel position, a large pool diameter 0.8 m was burned in centre, corner and rear wall centre along with six different fire source elevation. Results were analysed in terms of heat release rate (HRR), ratio of CO₂/CO, upper hot gas temperature, residence time of upper hot gas, CO yield, CO₂ yield and fractional effective dose (FED). The maximum HRR was obtained in the range of 10 kW to 1100 kW. For large pool diameter, results of CO₂/CO ratio shows exponential decay trend along with fuel pan elevation, the maximum concentration of CO increased with increase in ceiling temperature showed parabolic trend. Moreover, lower CO₂/CO ratio addresses incomplete combustion and thereby leads to higher toxicity inside the compartment.