The effectiveness of suppression of lithium ion battery, LIB, fires with water mist was investigated experimentally using a previously developed bench-scale wind tunnel. The experiments were conducted on lithium ion cell arrays constructed from twelve cylindrical (18,650 form factor), fully charged, lithium cobalt oxide cells, which were densely packed in a rectangular configuration without gaps. An

Reported in this paper is an exercise that contributes to the fire load database for fire severity analysis. The movable fuel load data was collected by the weight-inventory method from a specific building type, namely school buildings located within the metropolitan area of Sydney, Australia. The data was analysed to obtain statistical descriptions of fire load density in terms of probability density

This paper presents the results of an experimental investigation on the fire response of steel beams and their bolted flange plate (BFP) connections. Using sub-frame assembly, full-scale steel beams with various BFP beam-to-column joints were examined under the ISO 834 standard fire condition. The failure modes, as well as the structural and thermal responses of the beam and the BFP connections were

For the smoke filling in enclosures with floor leaks and growing fires, a comprehensive governing equation has been set up by Copper. However, this governing equation can hardly be exactly solved analytically because it is inseparable. Up to now, the existing analytical solutions for it are all approximate, including the so-called SFPE solution, the Deli-2 solution, the Deli-3 solution, etc. Among

This paper presents a methodology for the development of two creep models for the welds and the steel base material that are capable of predicting the thermal creep behavior of transverse welded lap joints. This methodology is based on the experimental program of the thermal creep effect on transverse welded lap joints conducted previously as a part of this research. The experimental results are in

Water mist is considered as a potential alternative to halon in fire extinguishing applications. However, penetration is remarkably reduced due to the rapid decay of momentum in the process of water mist movement, which makes it difficult for water mist to reach the flame zone to extinguish the fire. To effectively improve the momentum of the water mist, a novel water mist system namely co-flow jet

Implementation of Montreal Protocols-1987 enforced phase wise ban on production and application of ozone depleting chemicals (Halons). Since then, condensed aerosol-based fire extinguishing technology as an alternative to Halons has been a subject for numerous investigations for its research and applications worldwide. It has come up as the most efficient halon alternative technology in comparison

To test whether alarms that are effective in awakening children and prompting their escape are also effective among older adults 60 to 84 years old. These two age groups are at highest risk of residential fire-related death. Using a randomized, non-blinded, repeated measures design, 31 older adults were exposed during the N2 or N3 sleep stages to four different smoke alarms signals: female voice, low-frequency

Gases, vapors, liquid sprays, aerosols and other forms of ignitable fluids dispersed into the atmosphere, under certain circumstances, may encounter a hot surface. When investigating a fire, it may be necessary to determine in such cases if the hot surface was a competent ignition source. The paper reviews the available experimental data and findings on this topic and gives appropriate advice. It is

Emergency alarm systems notify people in case of a fire hazard so that they can quickly escape to safe areas. As buildings become larger and taller, emergency alarm systems have been transitioning from alarm-at-once systems to priority alarm systems. The Korean National Fire Safety Code for the emergency alarm system (NFSC 202) states that if there is a fire on or above the second floor of a building

The one billion people that currently reside in informal settlements are exposed to a high and daily risk of large conflagrations. With the number of informal settlement dwellers expected to increase in the years to come, more systematic work is needed to better understand these fires. Over the past 3 years to 4 years, researchers have explicitly started investigating informal settlement fire dynamics

Experiments on fire whirls generated by a gasoline pool fire in a vertical shaft were carried out. Vortex motions of swirling flame induced by buoyancy above the pool fires were observed to be more vigorous with increase in height. Upward flame motions were resulted due to increase in buoyancy. The phenomenon was described mathematically by solving the vorticity transport equation with reasonable assumptions

The training of video fire detection models based on deep learning relies on a large number of positive and negative samples, namely, fire video and scenario video with other disturbances similar to fire. Due to the prohibition of ignition in lots of indoor occasions, the fire video samples in the scene are insufficient. In this paper, a method based on generative adversarial network is proposed to

Shipping containers are increasingly adapted for modern modular construction of both permanent and mobile low-cost civilian-use structures, with the diversity and interchangeability of their uses suggesting the need for container-based modular structures to conform to standard fire safety requirements, notably insulation and integrity. Multi-storey structures in city centres consisting entirely of

The fire resistance of prestressed concrete (PC) structures is seriously affected due to the sensitivity of these structures and significant damage to high temperature. With the continuous improvement of the fire resistance rating of the structures, the fire resistance of PC structures has attracted much attention. According to the relevant research, the reasonable fire protection and heat insulation

A correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10694-021-01142-w

This study numerically investigates the effect of dripping on the ignitability of a vertically-oriented thermoplastic material subjected to localized radiant heating within a 2D domain. Thermoplastic material is modeled as a phase-change material with the prescribed solidification/melting temperature, and its rate of gasification (pyrolysis) process is described by the Arrhenius law. Molten matter

Textile-reinforced concrete is currently most frequently used for non-load–bearing structures, but there is a vision for also using it in load–bearing construction elements. In recent years, this construction material has been subjected to detailed examination. Different combinations of materials for potential use in textile-reinforced concrete have been described. These differ in the type of concrete

In 2010, the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB) announced a “vision zero” of zero fire deaths in Sweden by 2050. Studies into fire deaths have identified that certain risk groups, including but not limited to older people, are overrepresented in fire death statistics in Sweden. The MSB has developed guidelines for how individualised fire safety (IFS) can be implemented in local communities for

A novel multi-wavelength densitometer was built for the purpose of continuous and simultaneous measurements of light obscuration in smoke layers, concurrently in five bands (λ = 450 nm, 520 nm, 658 nm, 830 nm and 980 nm). This device was used for determining transmittance and visibility in smoke parameters of a smoke layer from the fire of 1.00 dm3 of n-Heptane in a 0.33 × 0.33 m tray located in a

Heat release rate (HRR) is most important factor in the tunnel fire. Therefore, an accurate understanding of the relationship between tunnel fire and HRR is required. The HRR of a pool fire is related to the heat feedback mechanism. Heat feedback is mainly affected by the flow around the fire source. However, considering the flow characteristics that depend on the tunnel slope is insufficient. Therefore

Fire detection is one of the most important needs of surveillance and security systems in industrial applications. In this paper, a novel fire detection algorithm based on motion analysis using fractal and spatio-temporal features is presented. Initially, in each frame, dynamic textures are detected through three different fractal analysis methods and thresholding techniques. In the first method, Kernel

Evacuation models commonly employ pseudorandom sampling from distributions to represent the variability of human behaviour in the evacuation process, otherwise referred to as ‘behavioural uncertainty’. This paper presents a method based on functional analysis and inferential statistics to study the convergence of probabilistic evacuation model results to inform deciding how many repeat simulation runs

Water mist based systems have emerged as potentially lucrative alternatives to Halon-based fire suppression systems and have been extensively studied in the literature. In the present work, experimental investigations are carried out on the performance of the water mist nozzles in extinguishing pool fires of diameter 0.1 m, 0.2 m, and 0.3 m with diesel and heptane as fuels. The growth of the fire is

The automation of fire detection systems can reduce the loss of life and property by allowing a fast and accurate response to fire accidents. Although visual techniques have some advantages over sensor-based methods, conventional image processing-based methods frequently cause false alarms. Recent studies on convolutional neural networks have overcome these limitations and exhibited an outstanding

The interest in probabilistic methodologies to demonstrate structural fire safety has increased significantly in recent times. However, the evaluation of the structural behavior under fire loading is computationally expensive even for simple structural models. In this regard, machine learning-based surrogate modeling provides an appealing way forward. Surrogate models trained to simulate the behavior

The effect of creep on the strength capacities, ductility, and failure modes of shear-bolted lap joints at elevated temperatures is investigated. Thirteen bolted lap joints (representing shear tab connections) are tested under different loading rates: fast rate (10 mm/min) and slow rates (1 mm/min and 0.3 mm/min) for temperatures ranging from 450°C to 700°C. The temperature- and the time-dependent

Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) is widely used to simulate tunnels and partially substitute on-site tests. As technology advances, new application opportunities appear; some examples are the optimal operation of ventilation and emergency systems, risk assessment of tunnels and training of the operators. Even when the computational capacity of computers has grown, CFD is still constrained by the

The orthotropic and temperature-dependent nature of the mechanical properties of wood is well recognized. However, past studies of mechanical properties at elevated temperatures are either limited to temperatures below 200 °C or focus only on the direction parallel to grain. The effect of time-dependent pyrolysis during measurement is often neglected. This paper presents a novel method for determining

The risk of fatal residential fires is known to be differentiated by sociodemographic factors. However, often prevention measures are introduced generally in a population, thereby perhaps affecting the effectiveness of these interventions. By using a 20-year high-quality register over fatal fires in Sweden and a previously validated Boolean expressions regarding the effectiveness for specific interventions

Post-wildfire investigations of structures provide engineers with data to understand how to harden building infrastructure for future wildfire hazards. This paper presents a preliminary framework where field-collected LiDAR and drone data is integrated with numerical models for post-wildfire assessment of buildings with the goal of learning from wildfire-damaged buildings. The developed framework provides

Modelling capabilities have drastically improved in the last decade. However, in most of the cases the fire response of building elements is predicted by fitting input material properties to the models in order to match test data. This paper presents models developed to predict the unexposed side temperature of stone wool layered composites with stainless steel or gypsum claddings exposed to severe

The flammability limits of flat materials with different moderate thickness in opposed flow were investigated to clarify the effect of sample thickness on flammability limit. Thin poly-methyl methacrylate (PMMA) sheets and polycarbonate (PC) sheets were used as samples. The thickness was varied as 0.2 mm, 0.5 mm and 1.0 mm for PMMA, and 0.1 mm, 0.2 mm, 0.5 mm and 1.0 mm for PC. The limiting oxygen

Over the past few years, numerous large-scale disasters have occurred due to wildfires at the wildland-urban interface (WUI). In these fires, spread via the transport of firebrands (burning embers) plays a significant role. Several models have been developed to describe the transport of firebrands but few, if any, are available which can provide a quantitative means to generate firebrands at the source

A series of fire experiments were conducted in an ISO 9705 room in an attempt to reconstruct a multi-item room fire produced by individual items. Fuel items represented typical shapes and sizes of furniture in a bedroom including a double bed, bedside tables, wardrobe, dressing table and chair. As all of the fuel items were made of seasoned pine timber, these are termed as “mock furniture”. Double

In modelling human behavior during a fire, one has to deal with uncertainties regarding the psychological response due to limited or incomplete knowledge database. The purpose of this paper is to develop a new fuzzy Bayesian Network framework to model causal relationship of psychological response at the initial stage of fire events. Firstly, a new conceptual model namely the PRiF (Psychological Response

Tower-mounted camera-based wildfire detection systems provide an effective means of early forest fire detection. Historically, tower sites have been identified by foresters and locals with intimate knowledge of the terrain and without the aid of computational optimisation tools. When moving into vast new territories and without the aid of local knowledge, this process becomes cumbersome and daunting

Previous building fires and research has shown that simple (shear) connections develop large axial force and flexural demands during a fire leading to potential failure of the connections and progressive collapse of a building. These findings have motivated decades of international research on the fire behavior of simple (shear) connections. While this research all confirmed that simple connections

A simple framework for setting risk tolerability limits is proposed following a literature review of risk acceptance in fire safety engineering and a feedback round with international fire safety professionals. The framework provides practical guidance for the application of international fire safety guidance, such as the recently published UK guidance document on probabilistic risk assessment for

The objective of this study is to investigate how the location of fire source impacts the species generation. From the standpoint of fire safety, toxicity need to be estimated from the product gases evolved under different conditions of pool fire inside the compartment. However, industries like chemical, nuclear and thermal power plants also possess fuel positions significantly above the floor level

Multiple fires of unequal heat release rate (HRR) is a common fire scenario in real fire accidents. Differing from most previous research assumption of identical fire sources, the unequal HRR for those fire sources is regarded as more reasonable in reality. To explore the asymmetric flow characteristics surrounding multiple fires under such circumstances, simulations of two square propane burners with

Vehicle fires in parking structures developing into large conflagrations are rare but can result in severe economic losses. It is important to understand the hazard posed by modern vehicle fires to determine whether current fire codes for parking garages are mandating adequate fire protection requirements. There has been an increase in the fire hazard from changes in vehicle design and increased use

This study examined individual ascent and descent performance on long straight stairs. A field experiment was conducted in a subway station in China involving 30 healthy volunteers with mean (SD) age of 38.6 (16.1). Each participant was required to ascend 71.4 m height straight stairs consisted of 6 stair sections, then required to descend the same stairs after an enough rest period. During the rest

Every year, high numbers of firefighters are injured at fire incidents. A primary cause of moderate to severe injury can be linked to the protective garments worn by firefighters and understanding the limits of these protective garments is crucial for their safety. It would be substantially advantageous to firefighter safety if their available safe escape time is included in building design. To do

The application of conventional aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF) has been restricted due to the environmental hazards caused by long-chain fluorocarbon surfactants. Environmentally friendly firefighting foams are urgently needed. In this study, AFFFs based on a long-chain fluorocarbon surfactant and a short-chain fluorocarbon surfactant, and fluorine-free foams based on a silicone surfactant and a

The extinguishing properties of aqueous suspensions with carbon nanoparticles (astralenes) used for extinguishment of liquid hydrocarbon flames were investigated. The extinguishment time (τ) was found to decrease by 75–80% with increasing of astralene concentrations (φ) from 0 vol.% to 0.5 vol.%. As the concentration is further increased above 1.0 vol.%, the value of τ also increases. Such changes

Cooking equipment is involved in nearly half of home fires in the United States, with cooktop fires the leading cause of deaths and injuries in cooking-related fires. In this study, we evaluate 16 electrochemical, optical, temperature and humidity sensors, placed in the cooktop exhaust duct, for use in predicting and preventing cooktop ignition. The sensors were evaluated in a series of 60 experiments

High-accuracy and real-time smoke spread models are vitally important for firefighting in subway tunnels. This paper proposes a data-driven model, named CAERES-DNN, for predicting smoke spread in subway tunnel fire. CAERES-DNN constitutes of CAERES (convolutional autoencoder with residual blocks) architecture and DNN (deep neural network) architecture. CAERES has 26 convolutional layers, 4 full link

This paper is to quantify the external wind effects on flame behavior evolutions inside and outside a compartment with opposing openings. Temperature profiles at the windward and leeward corners inside the compartment as well as the external flame trajectories were investigated. Experimental results show that the flame shape inside the compartment changes from the windward symmetrical rotation flame

In a healthcare context, the success of a fire safety procedure in a real-life emergency mainly depends on staff decisions and actions. One of the factors influencing staff decision-making is their training. In most healthcare facilities, safety educators use slide-based lectures as a training tool. Virtual Reality (VR) is gaining fire safety community attention for being an interesting training tool

The present work analyses theoretically and numerically fire plumes evolving in a two-layer stratified environment. The ambient fluid consists of a lower cold (heavy) layer and an upper warm (light) layer with a sharp interface. The fire plume is controlled by the fire heat release rate Q. Depending on the density interface location, the temperatures of the layers and on the fire source conditions

This paper is proposing an machine learning based expert system for preliminary prediction of the insulation fire resisting performance of shallow floor systems when subject to exposure to the ISO 834 Standard Fire Curve. The proposed system is a digital tool which incorporates a machine learning algorithm trained on the outcomes of pre-run two-dimensional finite element heat transfer analyses of shallow

The original publication of the article unfortunately contained a mistake in Figure 2c.

A qualitative assessment of fire hazard posed by laminated glass balcony balustrades was carried out through an in-depth analysis of empirical evidence from six (6) past balcony fires with glass balustrades to deduce the type of glass used and understand the mechanism for fire spread in these fire scenarios. Post-fire conditions of these balconies were studied based on their post-breakage integrity

The main objective of this paper is to evaluate the validity of the existing methods for analytically solving the governing equation of smoke filling in enclosures with floor leaks and growing fires. Since the complete form of the governing equation is inseparable, it can hardly be exactly solved analytically. Up to now, there are mainly five analytical solutions available in the literature. The first

This paper proposes novel modifications to existing solid flame and point source models to better predict the spatial contour of near-field, steady-state radiant heat flux from large circular pool fires (with diameters ranging from 1 m to 20 m) with gasoline and diesel fuel. The proposed models account for partial smoke obscuration of the flames, and the emissive power of the visible flame layer is

In the original publication of the article, Table 1, 2, 3 was incorrectly published.