Correlating preflashover room fire temperatures

Abstract

In this investigation the existing correlational methods for predicting room fire temperatures are evaluated by comparison with a database of 559 data points derived from over 250 room fire experiments. In addition, several new methods based on a simple energy balance are proposed and evaluated. For forced ventilation compartment fires, the energy equation method developed here is shown to provide better predictions than existing methods. For single opening naturally ventilated fires, the McCaffrey, Quintiere, Harkleroad (MQH) method provides better predictions than the layer driven method developed here. In many situations, there is no practical way to have prior knowledge of the ventilation rates or the ventilation openings. Under these conditions, it is prudent to make conservative assumptions concerning the ventilation rate. The stoichiometric model described in this paper embodies this assumption and has been shown to yield conservative results. This method may be very useful in conditions where the burning rate can be estimated, but the ventilation rate cannot be anticipated.