Citation

Ball JA, Pietrzak LM. Fire Safety J. 1978; 1(4-5): 291-300.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1978, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Using a physically-based computer simulation of compartment fires, characteristics of the water spray from hose-nozzle systems used by the fire service are varied and the effect on fire knockdown performance compared. The objective is to improve hose-nozzle performance to achieve more effective fire control with smaller water usage and damage and with tolerable levels of high temperature steam over a wide-range of building and fire conditions.A description of the computer simulation's theoretical and empirical basis is provided. The unique feature of the simulation is that it not only models fire growth from flashover through a free burning phase, but also follows the fire history through the period of water application to either knockdown of the fire or burnout.It is then demonstrated how the computer simulation can be used to identify building and fire conditions most likely to stress the technology and also to estimate a preliminary set of near optimal water spray characteristic performance goals. These results then provide a basis for future hardware development and experimental testing.