Well-characterized open pool experiment data and analysis for model validation and development.

Abstract

Four Well-Characterized Open Pool fires were conducted by Fire Science and Technology Department. The focus of the Well-Characterized Open Pool fire series was to provide environmental information for open pool fires on a physics first principal basis. The experiments measured the burning rate of liquid fuel in an open pool and the resultant heat flux to a weaponsized object and the surrounding environment with well-characterized boundary and initial conditions. Results presented in this report include a general description of test observation (pre and post-test), wind measurements, fire plume topology, average fuel recession and heat release rates, and incident heat flux to the pool and to the calorimeters. As expected, results of the experiments show a strong correlation between wind conditions, fuel vaporization (mass loss) rate, and incident heat flux to the fuel and ground surface and calorimeters. Numerical fire simulations using both temporally-and spatially-dependant wind boundary conditions were performed using the Vulcan fire code. Comparisons of data to simulation predictions showed similar trends; however, simulation-predicted incident heat fluxes were lower than measured. 4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSThis report concludes a multi-year study of the data from a suite of unique fire experiments. The authors would like to thank the following individuals for their participation in this effort.