Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Numerical studies on swirling of internal fire whirls with experimental justifications

  • Research Article
  • Indoor/Outdoor Airflow and Air Quality
  • Published:
Building Simulation Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Numerical studies on internal fire whirls (IFW) generated in a vertical shaft model with a single corner gap were reported in this paper. The generation of IFW, burning rate of fuel and temperature were studied experimentally first. Numerical simulations on medium-scale IFW were carried out using a fully-coupled large eddy simulation incorporating subgrid scale turbulence and a fire source with heat release rates compiled from experimental results. Typical transient flame shape was studied and then simulated numerically by using temperature. The dynamic phenomena of generation and development of IFW were simulated and then compared with experimental results. The predicted results were validated by comparing with experimental data, which demonstrated that an IFW can be simulated by Computational Fluid Dynamics. Numerical results for flame surface, temperature, and flame length agreed well with the experimental results. The IFW flame region and intermittent region were longer than those for an ordinary pool fire. The modified empirical formula for centerline temperature was derived. Variations of vertical and tangential velocity in axial and radial directions were also shown. The vortex core radius was found to be determined by the fuel bed size. Velocity field was not measured extensively due to resources limitation. Comparing measured temperature distribution with predictions is acceptable because temperature is related to the heat release rate, air flow and pressure gradient.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Abbreviations

C :

combustion heat

C S :

turbulence subgrid scale (SGS) Smagorinsky model coefficient

c p :

specific heat of air

D*:

flame characteristic diameter

D T :

mass diffusion coefficient

g :

acceleration due to gravity

k :

coefficients for centerline correlations

k T :

heat-conductivity coefficient

l :

grid size

m :

mass

Pr T :

turbulent Prandtl number

Q :

heat release rate (HRR)

Qexp :

stable stage HRR

\({\overline Q _{\exp}}\) :

mean HRR of six stages

Q num :

input stable stage HRR

\({\overline Q _{{\rm{num}}}}\) :

input mean HRR

R :

burning rate

r :

radial distance from centerline

Sc T :

turbulent Schmidt number

S jj :

deformation rate tensor. i for normal direction and j for projective direction

T :

temperature

ΔT :

excess temperature

T 0 :

ambient air temperature

t :

time

U j :

velocity components (u, v, w) along the x, y, z Cartesian coordinate

Δx, Δy, Δz :

grid dimensions along the x, y, z directions

Y i :

mass fraction of component i

z :

height from fuel surface

Δ :

subgrid length scale

δ :

rate of particle nucleation for soot volume fraction

η :

exponent of centerline correlation

μ T :

turbulent viscosity coefficient

ρ :

density

ρ0 :

ambient air density

σ :

combustion ratio

τ SGS :

viscous stress tensor

Ω:

tangential velocity

References

  • Bullen ML, Thomas PH (1979). Compartment fires with non-cellulosic fuels. Symposium (International) on Combustion, 17: 1139–1148.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cai N, Chow WK (2014). Numerical studies on heat release rate in a room fire burning wood and liquid fuel. Building Simulation, 7: 511–524.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cheung SCP, Yeoh GH (2009). A fully-coupled simulation of vortical structures in a large-scale buoyant pool fire. International Journal of Thermal Sciences, 48: 2187–2202.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chow WK (1995). Use of computational fluid dynamics for simulating enclosure fires. Journal of Fire Sciences, 13: 300–334.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chow WK, Han SS (2009). Experimental investigation on onsetting internal fire whirls in a vertical shaft. Journal of Fire Sciences, 27: 529–543.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chow WK (2013). Air pumping action of a plume in a room fire. Building Simulation, 6: 95–102.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chow WK, Dang JF, Gao Y, et al. (2017). Dependence of flame height of internal fire whirl in a vertical shaft on fuel burning rate in pool fire. Applied Thermal Engineering, 121: 712–720.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chuah KH, Kuwana K, Saito K (2009). Modeling a fire whirl generated over a 5-cm-diameter methanol pool fire. Combustion and Flame, 156: 1828–1833.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dahanayake KC, Yang Y, Wan Y, et al. (2020). Study on the fire growth in underground green corridors. Building Simulation, 13: 627–635.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Emmons HW, Ying SJ (1996). The fire whirl. In: Proceedings of the 11th international Symposium on Combustion, Berkeley, CA, USA.

  • Gao Z, Li S, Gao Y, et al. (2019). Experimental studies on characteristics of fire whirl in a vertical shaft. Fire and Materials, 43: 229–240.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gong J, Li Y (2010). CFD modelling of the effect of fire source geometry and location on smoke flow multiplicity. Building Simulation, 3: 205–214.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harish R, Venkatasubbaiah K (2015). Large eddy simulation of thermal plume behavior in horizontally partitioned dual enclosure. Building Simulation, 8: 137–148.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jain S, Shashi, Kumar S (2011). Numerical studies on evaluation of smoke control system of underground metro rail transport system in India having jet injection system: A case study. Building Simulation, 4: 205–216.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jiang Y, Chen Q (2001). Study of natural ventilation in buildings by large eddy simulation. Journal of Wind Engineering and Industrial Aerodynamics, 89: 1155–1178.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lei J, Liu N, Lozano JS, et al. (2013). Experimental research on flame revolution and precession of fire whirls. Proceedings of the Combustion Institute, 34: 2607–2615.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lei J, Liu N, Zhang L, et al. (2015). Temperature, velocity and air entrainment of fire whirl plume: A comprehensive experimental investigation. Combustion and Flame, 162: 745–758.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lei J, Liu N, Tu R (2017). Flame height of turbulent fire whirls: A model study by concept of turbulence suppression. Proceedings of the Combustion Institute, 36: 3131–3138.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li S, Yao Q, Law CK (2019). The bottom boundary-layer structure of fire whirls. Proceedings of the Combustion Institute, 37: 4277–4284.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu SL, Chow WK (2002). A review on numerical simulation of turbulent flow. International Journal on Architectural Science, 3(2): 77–102.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ma TG, Quintiere JG (2003). Numerical simulation of axi-symmetric fire plumes: Accuracy and limitations. Fire Safety Journal, 38: 467–492.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McCaffrey BJ (1979). Purely buoyant diffusion flames: Some experimental results, NBSIR 79–1910. Gaithersburg, MD, USA: National Bureau of Standards.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • McGrattan KB (2004). Fire Dynamics Simulator (Version 4)—Technical Reference Guide, NIST Special Publication 1018. Gaithersburg, MD, USA: National Institute of Standards and Technology.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • McGrattan KB, Forney GP (2004). Fire Dynamics Simulator (Version 4)—User Guide. NIST Special Publication 1019. Gaithersburg, MD, USA: National Institute of Standards and Technology.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Murakami S (1998). Overview of turbulence models applied in CWE-1997. Journal of Wind Engineering and Industrial Aerodynamics, 74–76: 1–24.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sahu D, Kumar S, Jain S, et al. (2017). Full scale experimental and numerical studies on effect of ventilation in an enclosure diesel pool fire. Building Simulation, 10: 351–364.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Satoh K, Yang KT (1996). Experimental observations of swirling fires. In: Proceedings of ASME Heat Transfer Division, HTD-Vol. 335, pp. 393–400.

  • Satoh K, Yang KT (1997). Simulation of swirling fires controlled by channeled self-generated entrainment flows. In: Proceedings the 5th International Symposium, International Association for Fire Safety Science, pp. 208–216.

  • Satoh K, Yang KT (1998). Experiments and numerical simulations of swirling fires due to 2×2 flames in a channel with single corner gap. In: Proceedings of ASME International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition, ASME Heat Transfer Division, Anaheim, CA, USA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Satoh K, Yang KT (1999). Measurements of fire whirl from a single flame in a vertical square channel with symmetrical corner gaps. In: Proceedings of ASME International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition, ASME Heat Transfer Division, Nashville, TN, USA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Snegirev AY, Marsden JA, Francis J, et al. (2004). Numerical studies and experimental observations of whirling flames. International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, 47: 2523–2539.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Soma S, Saito K (1991). Reconstruction of fire whirls using scale models. Combustion and Flame, 86: 269–284.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tohidi A, Gollner MJ, Xiao H (2018). Fire whirls. Annual Review of Fluid Mechanics, 50: 187–213.

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  • Wang H (2009). Numerical study of under-ventilated fire in medium-scale enclosure. Building and Environment, 44: 1215–1227.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Williams FA (2017). Scaling fire whirls. Keynote lecture, In: Proceedings of the 8th International Symposium on Scale Modelling (ISSM-8), Portland, OR, USA.

  • Yu H, Guo S, Peng M, et al. (2013). Study on the influence of air-inlet width on fire whirls combustion characteristic. Procedia Engineering, 62: 813–820.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yuen ACY, Yeoh GH, Alexander B, et al. (2014). Fire scene investigation of an arson fire incident using computational fluid dynamics based fire simulation. Building Simulation, 7: 477–487.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang W, Chen Q (2000). Large eddy simulation of indoor airflow with a filtered dynamic subgrid scale model. International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, 43: 3219–3231.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang W, Hamer A, Klassen M, et al. (2002). Turbulence statistics in a fire room model by large eddy simulation. Fire Safety Journal, 37: 721–752.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhou X, Luo KH, Williams JJR (2001). Numerical studies on vortex structures in the near-field of oscillating diffusion flames. Heat and Mass Transfer, 37: 101–110.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zou GW, Chow WK (2015). Generation of an internal fire whirl in an open roof vertical shaft model with a single corner gap. Journal of Fire Sciences, 33: 183–201.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zukoski EE, Kubota T, Cetegen B (1981). Entrainment in fire plumes. Fire Safety Journal, 3: 107–121.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This study was sponsored by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 11402061). The work described in this paper was also partially supported by a grant from the Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China, for the project “A study on electric and magnetic effects associated with an internal fire whirl in a vertical shaft” (Project No. PolyU 15206215) with account number B-Q47D.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Midea Residential Air Conditioner Division, Foshan, Guangdong, China

    Zheming Gao

  2. College of Aerospace and Civil Engineering, Harbin Engineering University, Harbin, Heilongjiang, China

    Zheming Gao, S. S. Li & Y. Gao

  3. Department of Building Services Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hunghom, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China

    H. Y. Hung & Wan-ki Chow

Authors
  1. Zheming Gao
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. S. S. Li
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Y. Gao
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. H. Y. Hung
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Wan-ki Chow
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Wan-ki Chow.

Electronic Supplementary Material

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Gao, Z., Li, S.S., Gao, Y. et al. Numerical studies on swirling of internal fire whirls with experimental justifications. Build. Simul. 14, 1499–1509 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12273-020-0756-5

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12273-020-0756-5

Keywords

Search

Navigation