Experimental and theoretical analysis of the radiative transfer within a sooty pool fire

Technical Report · Mon Feb 01 04:00:00 EST 1988

OSTI ID:5097777

Longenbaugh, R S; Matthews, L K

Numerous models are available for characterizing the radiation heat transfer environment within a sooty pool fire. Usually, these models contain a number of unknown parameters (i.e., extinction coefficient and absorption coefficient) which correspond to physical properties of the fire environment. The objective of this work is to provide quantitative estimates of the unknown parameters, using experimental data obtained from a large scale pool fire (9.1 m x 18.3 m) and nonlinear parameter estimation techniques. This work is part of an effort to evaluate the effects of a sooty pool fire on shipping containers transporting radioactive materials. In some unusual accident situations a container may be completely engulfed in flames, so it is important to understand the radiation effects on a container. Since radiation plays a dominant role in the total energy balance, radiation effects are the main thrust of this study. The radiation-to-convection ratio is on the order of four or five to one. This ratio has been suggested by other authors and is confirmed by the current work. During the course of this work, it was determined that the large scale pool fire was absorption dominant. Therefore, scattering was neglected and a one parameter model was developed. Mean absorption coefficients ranged between 0.006/cm and 0.017/cm. 28 refs., 34 figs., 27 tabs.

• Research Organization: Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM (USA); New Mexico State Univ., Las Cruces (USA). Dept. of Mechanical Engineering
• DOE Contract Number: AC04-76DP00789
• OSTI ID: 5097777
• Report Number(s): SAND-86-0083; TTC-0642; ON: DE88007099
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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