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MSc Lecture 3:
Fire Plume

Professor W.K. Chow

Department of Building Services Engineering
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Hong Kong, China
15 Sept 2015
MScFD.ppt

Stages in a Compartment Fire

When fire occurs in a room, its course is
determined by:

the combustible contents,

the nature of the surrounding construction

(wall, ceiling and floor) and

the air supply.

There are at least three stages in a fire:

growth, development and decay stages.

Growth stage:

This starts from the ignition up to flashover

when all materials are heated to their ignition
temperatures.

Preflashover stage.

Plume: transfer heat and mass from lower

to higher level.

Development stage:

The whole content is under combustion and

the temperature increases at a significantly
slower rate.

Ceiling jet
Hot gas buoyant layer
Hot gas out
Convection
Plume
Radiation
FIRE
Fuel
Conduction

Cool air in

Decay stage:

The fire is extinguishing because either the

fuel is burning out or there is insufficient air
supply.

The temperature of the enclosure drops

gradually.

The length of each stage depends on the

combustibility, calorific value of materials,
nature of surrounding construction and the
supply of air.

Fully developed fire

Temperature

Growth
stage

Decay
Stage

800 oC

500 oC or
600 oC
Ignition

Flashover

Fig. 1 Temperature Course of a Fire

Time

Fire Plume
McCaffrey (1979) :
Results on a 30cm square burner showed that there are 3
distinct regions :
(i) The near field above the burner surface :
there is persistent flame and an accelarating flow
of burning gases (the flame zone)
(ii) Intermittent flaming region :
a near-constant flow velocity (intermittent zone)
(iii) Buoyant plume characterized by decreasing
velocity and temperature with height
(Most important, \ relevant to fire engineering)

Upward
Velocity

Flame

Intermittent

Height

Plume

Flame height

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Plume

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3 Regions :

Persistent flame,

Intermittent flame,

Buoyant plume.

Flame exists in the near field and the

intermittent zone.

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The Buoyant Plume

This region is more important, e.g. fire
detection, smoke movement/control.

Buoyancy/Natural Convection.
If a density difference exists between adjacent
mass of fluid due to temperature gradient, the
force of buoyancy will cause the less dense
fluid to rise.

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The buoyancy force per unit volume g(r - r) is

resisted by the viscous drag within the fluid.

The Relative Magnitude of these 2 opposing forces

is the Grashof Number Gr :

gl (r r) gl
Gr
2 T
2
r

l:

linear dimension ;

l3 r ~

Constant for scaled model

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Buoyant Plume :

It describes the convective column rising

above a source of heat.

Its structure is determined by the interaction

with surrounding fluid.

But temperature depends on source strength

and height above the source.

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The mathematical model of the simple buoyant

plume is based on a point source.

Ideal plume is axisymmetric

and extend vertically to a
height where the buoyancy
force is too weak to overcome the viscous drag.
Cooling of the plume occurs as
a result of dilution with
ambient air which is entrained
tho' the plume boundary.

u0
b

Air
Entrainment

z
z=0

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Decrease in temperature with height is

accompanied by broadening of the plume and
reduction in upward velocity.
Structure of the plume may be derived
theoretically tho' conservation equations for
mass, momentum and energy.

Detailed solution gives Gaussian-like distributions

of temperature and vertical flow velocity tho'
horizontal sections of the plume as a function of
height.

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Simple Approach (Heskested (1972)) :

Starts from conservation equation, use simple
dimensional analysis to obtain functional
relationships between (temperature and upward
velocity) and (source strength and height).

Axisymmetric plume of radius b at height z,

ambient density r
Neglect viscous forces, and assume small
temperature differences.

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uo, ro are vertical velocity and density on the plume

axis at z :

d
...(1)
(ro u o2 b 2 ) g( ro r )b 2
dz
Momentum
d
( rouob2 ) r v b r uob
...(2)
dz
Mass
[Increase in mass flow with height is due to air
entrainment tho' the plume. The entrainment
velocity v is proportional to uo, i.e. = a'uo.
a':entrainment constant ~0.09 for still air]

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Cp ro u o b 2 To

Q
conv

...(3)
Energy

To : Excess temperature over ambient at z

Q conv : Convective heat output from the source
i.e. source strength

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Heskestad (1972, 1975) :

Assume b, uo, To are related to simple power of z
i.e.

b zs
uo zm
To zn

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Putting into equations (1), (2) and (3)

bz

1/3 1 / 3
-1/3
u

A
Q
z
o
conv

T (A 2/3 T ) Q 2 / 3 z -5/3
conv
o
g

where

g
A=
C p T

T : Ambient Temperature

[Exercise : To prove the above relationship]

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Buoyancy :
Continuity :
Momentum :

d 2
b ug
0
dz

d 2
(b u) 2 bu
dz

AS WELL

d 2 2
2
(b u ) b g
dz

Air entrainmen t rate 2bvdz ~ z dz ~ z

2

bz

v u0 z-1/3

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Real sources :

z
z0
virtual source

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Correction must be made for a virtual source,

such that the plume orginating from that point
will have identical entrainment to the real
plume.

Height is measured from the virtual source

zo ~ 1.5 Af1/2

Af : Fuel bed area

[Plume spread ~ 15 to the vertical]

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Chitty and Cox (1979) :

Measure a 0.3 m square porous burner flame.

Plot the "equal combustion intensity" contour.

Determine the fraction of time that flame was

present at different locations within the fire plume.

found out most intense combustion occurs in

the lower region especially near the burner
edge.

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Flame
Height
(m)

0.5

% probabilities having
20 1
combustion

60
0.5
Horizontal Position
(m)

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The motion of the intermittent (oscillating) flames

occupies a considerable proportion of the fire plume.
The frequency is quite regular and decreases with the
area of the burning surface increases.
Frequency / Hz

0.3 x 0.3
Fuel bed area (m2)

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Intermittency I :

Fraction of time that at least part of the flame lies

above the height z. I
1.0
No flame at above
this region

0.5

z
L

I decreases from unity to smaller values in the

intermittent flame region and eventually reaches
zero.

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Mean flame height L :

1
the distance above the fire source with I =
.
2

Q
L
log ( ) Vs log ( 5c/ 2 ) is linear
D
D
D : Fuel bed diameter (m)

: Rate of heat released (kW)

Q
c

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Interaction of fire plume with

compartment boundaries
Unconfined buoyant plume : no physical barriers to
limit vertical movement or air entrainment.

\ Axisymmetric
If the source is closed to the wall/corner, air
entrainment will be restricted.
Confined plume :
\ Temperature will decrease less rapidly since cold
ambient air entrainment rate will be less.

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Fire plume :

flame extension at a wall occurs since it has to

increase in size to give a large enough area tho'
which to entrain air to burn the fuel volatiles.

the flame might be deflected towards the wall.

this will enhance upward flame spread and fire

spread to adjacent vertical items.

Entrainment

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Ceiling Jet
Upward movement of fire plume confined by a ceiling.

Hot gases will be deflected as a horizontal ceiling jet

\ carry the combustion products to the ceilingmounted fire detectors/ sprinkler heads

Near ceiling
Flow

H
H
Fire plume

Fuel package

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Alpert : Maximum gas temperature Tmax : (At steadystate)

(Based on fire tests)

Tmax

2/3
5.38 Q
- T
( c)
H
r

r 0.18 H

Tmax

2/3
16.9Q
c
- T
H 5/3

r 0.18H

Note : for a fire

by 2
near the wall : multiply Q
c

near a coner : multiply Q c by 4

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Gas Temperature Near the Ceiling for a 20 MW fire

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Practical Applications
Fire dynamics to fire protection?
Concepts/Techniques

Radiation from flames

Response of Ceiling-mounted fire detectors

Interaction between sprinkler spray - fire plume

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Interaction between sprinkler spray - fire plume

McCaffrey (1974) :

Maximum upward velocity in a fire plume

1/5

u o 1.9 Q m/s

in kW

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But for sprinkler water droplets of radius a :

there is a terminal velocity vT

Upward force
(air drag + upthrust)

4
3
i.e. 6a (vT u o ) (r w - ro ) g a
3
Partial vacuum

2(r w ro )ga 2
vT
- uo
9

Vertical
speed

Fluid
Downward
weight

Drag

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What happens if vT < uo?

[Water droplets < 2mm diameter in a 4MW
fire will have this condition satisfied!]

\ Water cannot penetrate through a plume to

cool the surface of burning object.
[

Other effect : Evaporation?

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Development Stage
At this stage, the fire becomes ventilation controlled.

The severity depends on the available air supply.

This is because the combustible materials are being
decomposed very quickly.
It is impossible for sufficient air to enter the
compartment to allow complete combustion.
Therefore, very hot combustible gases will spill out of
the compartment and burn when they mix with
sufficient oxygen.
That is why we can observe long flame coming out
the window.

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Oxygen
Hot Combustible
Burning front
Gas
Oxygen

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This is a test But it could be your home if youre not careful.

Burning to save lives Ecos, Issue 59, Autumn, 1989, CSIRO, East Melbourn, pp.4-9

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The case is very serious when the hot gases find

their way into other parts of the building through
doors, service ducts, etc.
Usually, size of the openings such as window area
will control the ventilation rate.

The rate of inflowing air will determine the rate of

burning for a 'ventilation controlled' fires.

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The following gives a rough estimation:

Air density r1

v'

H" H
H'
Air density ro

Neutral plane

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Rate of inflowing air

V' = a H' B vm

(4)

a = coefficient of discharge.
H' = height of opening under the neutral plane.
B = breadth of the window.
vm = average velocity of the inflowing air.

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If t is the volume of air required for burning

1 kg of fuel:

V
Rate of burning R =
t
aHBv m
From equation (4): R =
t

(5)

 vm can be derived by the Bernoulli's Theorem:

At height h' below neutral plane, velocity of
inflow air v' is:

1
rO v' 2 gh' (rO - r1 )
2

rO - r1
v' 2gh' (
)
rO
H

1
v' dh'
\ vm

H O

rO - r1
2

2gH' (
)
3
rO

(6)

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Burning rate is therefore given by combining

equation (5) and (6).

rO - r1
a H' B 2
R
2gH' (
)
t 3
rO
\

H' B H'

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Another point: Kawagoue on wood fire

H H
\

HB H

A H

and R can be written as

R CA H
where

C = Constant
A = Area of opening = HB

A H is also called the ventilation factor and

the burning rate is proportional to it.