Theoretical Modelling of Sprinkler Sprays

Aghajani, H., Dembele, S.* and Wen, J.X.

School of Mechanical and Automotive Engineering, Kingston University, London SW15 3DW, UK. *Corresponding author: Email: s.dembele@kingston.ac.uk, Tel.: +44 208 417 8720, Fax: +44 208 417 7992. ABSTRACT:
Fire sprinklers are nowadays widely employed for both residential and industrial applications. Modelling the atomization process of sprinklers in fire suppression studies remains a challenge due to the complexities of sprinkler geometry and atomization regimes. In the present study, a simplified one dimensional streamwise mathematical model [1], with modifications implemented in surface tension force calculations, is employed to investigate the evolution of the liquid sheet trajectory. The model predicts the sheet velocity, thickness, deflection angle and location of a sheet, formed from an impinging jet over a flat plate, as a function of the jet Reynolds number, inclined plate angle, and density ratio of ambient air to agent fluid. Figure 1 illustrates the models predictions of the radial variations of (a) the dimensionless velocity, u/ui,(b) dimensionless thickness, /i (c) deflection angle, , and (d) dimensionless vertical displacement, 2Z/Di, of the sheet at three ambient air temperatures of 300K, 500K and 900K. These temperatures correspond to dimensionless densities of 787, 1412 and 2533, respectively. The subscript, , denotes the sheet initial condition at the edge of deflector. The jet release angle pressure was 69kPa. The radial axis, 2r/Di, is the radial sheet displacement normalized against flat disk diameter, Di. 1 0.9 0.8 0.7 0.6 0.5 T=300K T=500K T=900K 1 T=300K T=500K T=900K

0.8

u/ui

/i

0.6 0.4 0.2

0.4
0.3

0 0 10 20 30
0 10 20 30

2r/Di
(a)

2r/Di
(b)

90 88

1 0.8 T=300K T=500K T=900K

84 82 80 0

2Z/Di
20 30

86

0.6 0.4 0.2 0

T=300K T=500K T=900K 10

10

20

30

2r/Di
(c)

2r/Di
(d)

Figure 1: Effects of the change in ambient temperature on (a) dimensionless velocity,(b) dimensionless thickness, (c) deflection angle and (d) dimensionless vertical displacement of the sheet.

From the results presented in Figure 1it is found that a radially expanding sheet will develop and the sheet radius is amplified as the dimensionless density increases, hence smaller deflection angle Figure 1-(c) and downward vertical displacement Figure 1-(d). The sheet speed is less reduced and the sheet thickness is slightly reduced with an increase in dimensionless density. The same set of comparisons (Figure 1 (a)-(d)) will be presented in the full length paper for studying the effect of change in jet Reynolds number and inclined plate angle. In real sprinklers the jet Reynolds number is a function of sprinkler operational pressure. Studying the sheet formation beyond an inclined plate angle will simulates both slot flow and flow formed over inclined deflectors. In the next step, the aforementioned sheet trajectory model has been integrated into a state-of-the-art physics based [3, 4]- deterministic - spray modelling approach to quantify spray characteristics. The approach includes physics such as film flow, growth of instabilities on sheet and ligament flows towards their subsequent breakup and disintegration to droplets. Former deterministic approaches [3, 4] were mainly assuming that the sheet velocity is constant and the sheet thickness is inverse linearly related to the distance from that of originating point. The new sheet model strengthens the modelling process due to sensitivity of the atomization process to the jet density, Reynolds number and deflector inclination angle. A semi-empirical approach is further introduced in the study by using experimental volume fraction measurements to characterize sprinkler spray at near field. Predictions have been conducted for droplet volume median diameter, water volume flux and droplet average velocity at different elevation and azimuthal locations for K-162 upright sprinkler whose measurements are reported in [2]. The predictions of median droplet size at two azimuthal locations of at two azimuthal locations of 30 and 45 are shown in Figure 2. A reasonably good agreement has been achieved for the near field measurements, as the average error lies for overall spray estimation lies below 20 percent.

Droplet Diameter (mm)

2 1.5 1 0.5 0 0 50 100

Droplet Diameter (mm)

2.5

Zhou et al. (2010) Semi-empirical

1.8 1.6 1.4 1.2 1 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 0 0 50

Zhou et al. (2010) Semi-empirical

100

Elavation Angle
a)

Elavation Angle
b)

Figure 2: Droplet size predictions for a sprinkler of upright type References: [1] E.A. Ibrahim, T.R. McKinney, Injection characteristics of non-swirling and swirling annular liquid sheets, Proceedings of the IMechE. 220 (2006) 203-214. [2] X. Zhou, S.P. DAniele, H.Z. Yu, Spray pattern measurements of selected fire sprinklers, in: Proceedings of 12th International Interflam Conference, Nottingham, UK, 2010, pp. 177-188. [3] A.W. Marshall, M. di Marzo, Modeling aspects of sprinkler spray dynamics in fires, Process Saf. Environ. Prot. 82 (2004) 97104. [4] D. Wu, D. Guillemin, A.W. Marshall, A modeling basis for predicting the initial sprinkler spray, Fire safety J. 42 (2007) 283-294.