Experimental studies on sidewall pool fire for assessing green façades hazard

Fire hazard assessment on green façade used to be carried out by a window plume. Large amount of fuel was burnt. A small pool fire placed adjacent to the façade can give similar effect on assessing the hazardous consequences. Fire plume characteristics provide important information of fire hazards adjacent to façade. The average flame height of rectangular source fire located against different sidewall materials were investigated in this study.

Burning tests were conducted with rectangular burners of different dimensions with adjacent walls of different thermal properties, including steel plate and calcium silicate board. Experimental results of fire source with sidewall were compared with those in open space. Due to sidewall blockage, a deep necking-in structure was observed at the flame base and entrained air for combustion. Effect of aspect ratio of the fire pool and effect of heat loss through a sidewall on the average flame height were investigated. Convection lost would decrease the temperature of the fuel-air mixture and should not be ignored. On average, the mean flame height of the fire source with steel plate was 1.08 times that with calcium silicate board. A model for estimating the average flame height was developed by modifying the mirror model.