Citation

Ndubizu CC, Ananth R, Tatem PA, Motevalli V. Fire Safety J. 1998; 31(3): 253-276.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1998, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This is work is motivated by the urgent need to find an alternative to the banned halogen-based fire suppressing agents. Fine water mist is a contending alternative especially in total flooding applications. To obtain an optimum design of a water mist fire suppression system, one needs to understand the mechanisms of fire suspension by water mist. This paper presents a study of the relative contributions of the suppression mechanisms in a gaseous diffusion flame. A modified Wolfhard-Parker burner was used to measure temperature drops in a 2D methane diffusion flame, when various quantities of nitrogen, steam and water mist were added independently in a co-flow arrangement. A simple model of the flame was used to estimate the heat generation and loss processes taking place in the flame when small amounts of various suppressants were added. The results of both experiments and the analysis show that in a co-flow arrangement the addition of small quantities of fine water mist has more gas phase cooling effect on the flame than oxygen dilution effect.