Open Access

ABSTRACT

Suppression Capability Investigation for a Water Mist System in a Basement Building Fire

S.C. Wang¹, C.S. Lin²

1 Department of Mechanical Engineering, Yuan Ze University, Taiwan 320, ROC
2 Department of Mechanical Engineering, Yuan Ze University, Taiwan 320, ROC

The International Conference on Computational & Experimental Engineering and Sciences 2008, 7(4), 189-196. https://doi.org/10.3970/icces.2008.007.189

Abstract

Protecting against basement fires in commercial buildings is of major concern in Taiwan. Basements typically fill with high-temperature dense smoke rapidly during a fire, frequently generating deadly conditions that hinder escape from a fire. The water-mist fire suppression system (WMFSS) is a highly efficient fire suppression device that enhances the safety of people during a basement fire. The tiny water droplets with various diameters can absorb large amount of heat and the water vapors can prevent the occurrence of flashover during a building fire. This study investigates fire-suppression characteristics using a WMFSS in a basement barbershop fire accident in Taiwan. This accident caused extremely severe casualties (22 dead / 7 injured) in 1993. The fire is simulated using Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS) software for various scenarios. Computational results demonstrate that fire-suppression capability (including the influence of sprinkler spray in different positions, number of the sprinklers, flow fluxes, and mean droplet diameters) and cooling effects are improved significantly when using droplets with small mean diameters. Therefore, if such a WMFSS is implemented in the building basement, the severe consequences/casualties would be greatly reduced. Simulation data may be useful in future fire safety design and for use in WMFSS installation regulations.

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