Flame spreading and burning of high- and low-flash point fuels under compressed air foam suppression

Firefighting foam has been widely used as an efficient and clean agent for extinguishing liquid fires. In this work, the flame spreading and burning of 0# diesel and n-heptane fuels were suppressed using pre discharged compressed air foam (half coverage of the pool). The foam can effectively prevent...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Fengyuan Tian, Jun Fang, Shangqing Tao, Kun Wang, Hassan Raza Shah, Xuqing Lang, Zhijian Tian, Fei Tang
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2024-12-01
Series:Case Studies in Thermal Engineering
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214157X24015582
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1850112237473103872
author Fengyuan Tian
Jun Fang
Shangqing Tao
Kun Wang
Hassan Raza Shah
Xuqing Lang
Zhijian Tian
Fei Tang
author_facet Fengyuan Tian
Jun Fang
Shangqing Tao
Kun Wang
Hassan Raza Shah
Xuqing Lang
Zhijian Tian
Fei Tang
author_sort Fengyuan Tian
collection DOAJ
description Firefighting foam has been widely used as an efficient and clean agent for extinguishing liquid fires. In this work, the flame spreading and burning of 0# diesel and n-heptane fuels were suppressed using pre discharged compressed air foam (half coverage of the pool). The foam can effectively prevent the liquid-phase-controlled flame spreading over diesel, but cannot prevent the gas-phase-controlled flame spreading of n-heptane. In the burning stage, for diesel, in the flame-foam interaction region, internal fuel flow was observed and theoretically investigated. Meanwhile, the foam layer gradually regresses as it is destroyed by the flame, with a smaller regression rate at a higher foam expansion ratio. Furthermore, the global burning rate of diesel slightly decreases compared with that of no foam discharge, but regardless of the foam expansion ratio or thickness. For n-heptane, total burning develops on the no-foam and foam areas, where the temperature increase rate of the foam-covered fuel decreases mainly depending on the initial foam mass, and the reduction of the radiation heat feedback is mainly related to the foam layer thickness. Meanwhile, foam bubbles are prone to coalescence on the n-heptane surface, which reduces the foam stability and allows it to degrade more quickly. This work helps clarify the mechanisms of foam suppression on high- and low-flash point fuel fire and serves as a guide for engineering applications.
format Article
id doaj-art-2061d18fbc4443df8a546c5e15d7a0d4
institution OA Journals
issn 2214-157X
language English
publishDate 2024-12-01
publisher Elsevier
record_format Article
series Case Studies in Thermal Engineering
spelling doaj-art-2061d18fbc4443df8a546c5e15d7a0d42025-08-20T02:37:25ZengElsevierCase Studies in Thermal Engineering2214-157X2024-12-016410552710.1016/j.csite.2024.105527Flame spreading and burning of high- and low-flash point fuels under compressed air foam suppressionFengyuan Tian0Jun Fang1Shangqing Tao2Kun Wang3Hassan Raza Shah4Xuqing Lang5Zhijian Tian6Fei Tang7State Key Laboratory of Fire Science, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, 230026, PR ChinaState Key Laboratory of Fire Science, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, 230026, PR China; Corresponding author.State Key Laboratory of Fire Science, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, 230026, PR China; Corresponding author.Department of Fire Protection Engineering, China Fire and Rescue Institute, Beijing, 102202, PR ChinaState Key Laboratory of Fire Science, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, 230026, PR ChinaState Key Laboratory of Safety and Control for Chemicals, SINOPEC Research Institute of Safety Engineering Co., Ltd., Qingdao, Shandong, 266100, PR ChinaXCMG Fire-Fighting Safety Equipment Co., Ltd., Xuzhou, Jiangsu, 221100, PR ChinaState Key Laboratory of Fire Science, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, 230026, PR China; Corresponding author.Firefighting foam has been widely used as an efficient and clean agent for extinguishing liquid fires. In this work, the flame spreading and burning of 0# diesel and n-heptane fuels were suppressed using pre discharged compressed air foam (half coverage of the pool). The foam can effectively prevent the liquid-phase-controlled flame spreading over diesel, but cannot prevent the gas-phase-controlled flame spreading of n-heptane. In the burning stage, for diesel, in the flame-foam interaction region, internal fuel flow was observed and theoretically investigated. Meanwhile, the foam layer gradually regresses as it is destroyed by the flame, with a smaller regression rate at a higher foam expansion ratio. Furthermore, the global burning rate of diesel slightly decreases compared with that of no foam discharge, but regardless of the foam expansion ratio or thickness. For n-heptane, total burning develops on the no-foam and foam areas, where the temperature increase rate of the foam-covered fuel decreases mainly depending on the initial foam mass, and the reduction of the radiation heat feedback is mainly related to the foam layer thickness. Meanwhile, foam bubbles are prone to coalescence on the n-heptane surface, which reduces the foam stability and allows it to degrade more quickly. This work helps clarify the mechanisms of foam suppression on high- and low-flash point fuel fire and serves as a guide for engineering applications.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214157X24015582Compressed air foamAqueous film-forming foamDieselN-heptaneFlame spreadBurning
spellingShingle Fengyuan Tian
Jun Fang
Shangqing Tao
Kun Wang
Hassan Raza Shah
Xuqing Lang
Zhijian Tian
Fei Tang
Flame spreading and burning of high- and low-flash point fuels under compressed air foam suppression
Case Studies in Thermal Engineering
Compressed air foam
Aqueous film-forming foam
Diesel
N-heptane
Flame spread
Burning
title Flame spreading and burning of high- and low-flash point fuels under compressed air foam suppression
title_full Flame spreading and burning of high- and low-flash point fuels under compressed air foam suppression
title_fullStr Flame spreading and burning of high- and low-flash point fuels under compressed air foam suppression
title_full_unstemmed Flame spreading and burning of high- and low-flash point fuels under compressed air foam suppression
title_short Flame spreading and burning of high- and low-flash point fuels under compressed air foam suppression
title_sort flame spreading and burning of high and low flash point fuels under compressed air foam suppression
topic Compressed air foam
Aqueous film-forming foam
Diesel
N-heptane
Flame spread
Burning
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214157X24015582
work_keys_str_mv AT fengyuantian flamespreadingandburningofhighandlowflashpointfuelsundercompressedairfoamsuppression
AT junfang flamespreadingandburningofhighandlowflashpointfuelsundercompressedairfoamsuppression
AT shangqingtao flamespreadingandburningofhighandlowflashpointfuelsundercompressedairfoamsuppression
AT kunwang flamespreadingandburningofhighandlowflashpointfuelsundercompressedairfoamsuppression
AT hassanrazashah flamespreadingandburningofhighandlowflashpointfuelsundercompressedairfoamsuppression
AT xuqinglang flamespreadingandburningofhighandlowflashpointfuelsundercompressedairfoamsuppression
AT zhijiantian flamespreadingandburningofhighandlowflashpointfuelsundercompressedairfoamsuppression
AT feitang flamespreadingandburningofhighandlowflashpointfuelsundercompressedairfoamsuppression