Fire Safety Science Digital Archive

A non-isothermal, non-homogeneous approach has been developed for radiation analysis of moderate to large scale liquid pool fires, with a special emphasis on soot formation and the absorption and emission processes. The present field approach reveals the phenomenon of radiative energy blockage by the cold fuel and soot particles in the vicinity of the fuel bed, resulting in a variable heat flux distribution at the fuel surface. The convective contribution to the heat feedback at the fuel surface is found to decrease from 54 to 5% as the pool diameter increases from 15 to 50 cm, while the radiative contribution proportionately increases. The estimated mass evaporation rate and the total radiative output from the flame agree closely with experiment.