Citation

Ravigururajan TS, Beltran MR. Fire Safety J. 1989; 15(2): 171-181.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1989, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Fuel-spill, post-crash, and cabin fires account for 40% of fatalities occurring in aircraft accidents. Radiation is, by far, the single most dominating mode of heat transfer and hence, the severity of the accidents can be reduced through its attenuation. Water sprays have been considered useful in attenuating fire radiation. The present study characterizes the engineering aspects of the water droplet attenuation. The optimum and the most effective droplet sizes were determined using a simple radiation attenuation model and solving through an iteration method. Only infrared wavelengths (0[middle dot]6 to 25 [mu]M) have been considered in the study. The maximum attenuation factor was attained when the droplet radius was approximately equal to the wavelength. The results, which are presented graphically, also indicated optimum droplets of radius equal to the incident wavelength for minimum transmissivity. The effects of the path length and the volume of water on the transmissivity and target temperature are illustrated through a typical example.