1

MSc Lecture 2:
Fire Fundamentals:
Ceiling Jets and Plumes
Fire Combustion
Professor W.K. Chow
Department of Building Services Engineering
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Hong Kong, China
8 Sept 2015
MScFD1.ppt

(1) Fire Triangle

Fire is a rapid oxidation process accompanied
by the evolution of:

heat,
light,
flames (a glowing mass of gas) and
the emission of sound,

An unwanted combustion:
(not controlled-combustion as in furnace, gas cooker, and IC
engine)

Fuel + Oxygen Product + Heat

C /H /OH
O
CO/CO2

Fire requires:
fuel,
oxygen and
heat to start; thermal feedback later.
These three elements together form a fire
triangle.
Without any one of those elements, there is no
fire.
Removing any one of them would extinguish
the fire.

Fuel (Fire load)

Heat
(Ignition)

Oxygen
(Ventilation factor)

The amount of fuel in a space is described by

fire load density: the amount of combustible
material in heat content (or equivalent weights of
wood) per unit floor area.
Oxygen in the air is controlled by the volume of
space, window areas and ventilation arrangements.
Heat initially has to come from sources such as gas
cooker, electrical fault, lit cigarette, etc.

But once the fire has started, heat released by

combustion would be fedback to the fuel.

Chain reactions cause the fire self-sustaining.

No Combustibles!

Arson fire MTR train vehicle in Jan, 2004

(EastWeek, 4 August 2004)

This is a test But it could be your home if youre not careful.

Burning to save lives Ecos, Issue 59, Autumn, 1989, CSIRO, East Melbourn, pp.4-9

Dense Urban Areas:

Fire safety is a concern

EastWeek, 4 August 2004, pp. 76-77

(2) Stages in an Enclosure Fire

When fire occurs in a room, its course is
determined by:
the combustible contents,
the nature of the surrounding construction
(wall, ceiling and floor)
the configuration of the premise and
the air supply.

Why indoor fires are more dangerous ?

Lost Heat and Mass to Outside

Room: Heat and Mass Trapped

10

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There are at least three stages in a fire:

Growth

Development

800
Temperature/C

Flashover

Time
Temperature Course of a Fire

Decay

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Growth stages:

This starts from the ignition up to flashover

when all materials are heated to their ignition
temperatures.

Preflashover stage.

Development stage:

The whole content is under combustion and

the temperature increases at a significantly
slower rate.

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Decay stage:

The fire is extinguishing because either the

fuel is burning out or there is insufficient air
supply.

The temperature of the enclosure drops

gradually.

The length of each stage depends on the

combustibility, calorific value of materials,
nature of surrounding construction, the
configurations of the premise and the supply
of air.

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Three minutes to flash-over

Burning to save lives Ecos, Issue 59, Autumn, 1989, CSIRO, East Melbourn, pp.4-9

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Ceiling jet
Hot gas buoyant layer
Hot gas out
Convection
Plume
Radiation
FIRE
Fuel
Conduction

Cool air in

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Some terms
Smouldering (U.S.: Smoldering)

A burning process without flame due to

limited supply of oxygen,

e.g. an underground mine fire in Scotland.

Involves surface oxidation of the char which

provides the heat necessary to cause further
thermal degradation of the neighbouring layer
of combustible materials.

2 factors to occur
~

Porosity : allow oxygen to permeate

Must yield a char upon thermal decomposition.

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Cooling:

A process of fire extinguishment or control by

a reduction of temperature.

Starvation:

A process of fire extinguishment by limitation

or reduction of fuel.

Smothering:

A process of fire extinguishment by limiting

oxygen supply, e.g. cover CO2 on burning fuel
surface.

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Inhibition:

A process of fire extinguishment by the use of

an agent which interrupts the chemical
reaction in the flame.

Chemicals required.

Basically consuming H /O /OH

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Fire classification according to National

Fire Protection Association (e.g. NFPA 10
on Fire Extinguishers):
Class A Fire

Fires involving ordinary combustible

materials (such as wood, cloth, paper,
rubber and many plastics),

requiring the heat absorbing (cooling)

effects of water, water solutions,

the coating effects of certain dry chemicals

which retard combustion.

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Class B Fire

Fires involving flammable or combustible

liquids, flammable gases, greases, and
similar materials

extinguishment is most readily secured by:

excluding air (oxygen), inhibiting the
release of combustible vapours, or
interrupting the combustion chain reaction.

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Class C Fire

Fire
including
equipment

energized

electrical

safety to the operator requires the use of

electrically unconductive extinguishing
agents.

becomes Class A or Class B fires when electrical

equipment is de-energized.

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Class D Fire

Fire involving certain combustible metals,

such as magnesium, titanium, zirconium,
sodium, potassium, etc.

requiring a heat absorbing extinguishing

medium not reactive with the burning
metals.

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Class K Fire

Cooking appliances with cooking media and

vegetable or animal oils.

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(3) Ignition
The fuel concerned is heated by source to give
combustion.
The fuel has to be raised to some temperature,
so that at a given supply of oxygen, the
combustion takes place readily and the
reaction is self-sustaining.

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A mattress begins to burn, and before long

(CSIRO)
Burning to save lives Ecos, Issue 59, Autumn, 1989, CSIRO, East Melbourn, pp.4-9

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A pillow !
(CSIRO)
Burning to save lives Ecos, Issue 59, Autumn, 1989, CSIRO, East Melbourn, pp.4-9

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To gauge the degree of flammability of an item of furniture when

exposed to naked flame, CSIRO researchers have devised a test wherein
a crib of cribs-crossed pieces of wood is ignited on the top of the
furniture.
Cribs vary from 50 g to 400 g in weight; the bigger the crib (without fire
starting and spreading), the better is the fire performance of the item.
Burning to save lives Ecos, Issue 59, Autumn, 1989, CSIRO, East Melbourn, pp.4-9

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Examples of the ignition temperature for

common materials are:

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In general, heat generated by a burning material

is given by Arrhenius equation:
Q = Ae-E/RT
(1)

Q = Rate of heat generated per unit volume of the material.

A = Heat generation coefficient.
E = Activation Energy.
R = Gas constant.
T = Temperature of the material (in K).

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Wood for example has:

-

A = 2 x 10-6 cal s-1 cm-3 and

E = 25 kcal mol-2.

Substituting into equation (1), wood requires

10 years to raise 1 C if it is initially at room
temperature.
But it takes only a few seconds if wood is
maintained at 200 C.

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In this way, the heat generated is much greater

than the heat loss, its temperature rises
progressively and ignition occurs.
This is called self-ignition or spontaneous
ignition.
If the ignition is produced by external sources, it
is called pilot ignition if the source does not make
contact with the materials (i.e. by radiation), and
surface ignition if it is in contact (e.g. in contact
with the pilot flame).

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In order to raise the fuel to its ignition

temperature, heat has to be transferred to or
generated within the fuel.
If heat is generated totally within the fuel, the
reaction is called a spontaneous combustion.
It can be chemical or biological in nature.
Sometimes, the rise in external temperature is less
than the ignition temperature, but it might
accelerate internal reactions so that heat is
eventually built up inside the field to a stage
where ignition occurs.

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Heat comes from external source is referred to

ignition source.
It must have sufficient energy to raise the fuel up
to its ignition temperature.
Also the energy must be transferred to the fuel
rapidly enough for reaction to take place.

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If the source is a small flame (usually about

600 C to 1000 C for luminous flame),
temperature of it is well above the ignition
temperatures of most combustible materials.
But it may not be able to ignite the fuel since heat
can be transferred away.
The amount of heat energy available in the source
is critical in determining ignition.
For example, a match flame is quite unable to
ignite a heavy wooden work bench.

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The transfer process can be visualized as:

Heat loss by
radiation

Radiation
Convection
(If hot gas flow
towards the fuel)
Conduction
(If in contact)
Flame

Material
Heat loss by conduction

Heat loss by
convection

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The balance in heat transfer is important in the

process.
The heat capacity per unit volume of a material
is a function of the density and specific heat
C.
But the amount of heat conducted away from
the heated area is measured by the thermal
conductivity k.

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Thermal Inertia kC
By solving the one-dimensional conduction
equation, the quantity kC would become a
measure of time taken to heat up the material
when exposed under a heat source.
Therefore, its value is significant in determining
ignition characteristic of the material.
Note that this quantity is different from the
thermal diffusivity k/C as in:

t C x 2
2

(2)

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Therefore, from the above table, although

polystyrene (PS) foam has a higher ignition
temperature, but its kC is very low.
Therefore, when exposed to similar heat
sources, its surface will be heated up much
more rapidly.

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Further, the incident radiation intensity of the

external source will also determine the time
required to ignite the materials.
For wood, the curve is as follows:
Incident
radiation intensity
Cal/m2 s
1.0

Critical
intensity
200

Ignition time /sec

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For other materials, values of the critical

intensities are:

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FIB = fibre insulating board;

PUF = polyurethane foam.
Figures are values of kcp, from:

s
t
1 exp
2

erfc

when

Thermal inertia decreases

t
k

h
k
c

Effect of thermal inertia (kcp) in W2s/m4.K2, on the rate of

with h = 20 W/m .K
temperature rise at the surface of a semi-infinite solid
Ts = surface temperature
Fire Dynamics D.D. Drysdale (1985)
2

~
k

k
c
~
k

1
kc

Heat flux

x = 0, Ts

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Material

Thermal
conductivity
k (W m-1 K-1)

Density
(kg m-3)

Specific
heat c
(J kg-1 K-1)

Thermal
diffusivity
(10-6 m2 s-1)

Thermal
absorptivity kc
(J m-2 s-1/2 K-1)

Steel

44.0

7800

460

12.3

12600

Mabel

2.0

7650

1000

0.755

2300

Normalweight
concrete

1.7

2250

1200

0.630

2140

Brick

1.0

2100

900

0.529

1370

Lightweight
concrete

0.50

1450

1000

0.345

850

Plastic board

0.25

750

2500

0.133

680

Wood

0.15

550

1800

0.152

390

Mineral wool

0.04

160

1150

0.217

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Typical values of the thermal properties of common construction

materials (in moistureless condition) for a temperature level
appropriate for a 20-min fire exposure
Fire safety design and concrete T. Z. Harmathy (1993)

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(4) Growth of an Enclosure Fire

Early phase of growth involves fire spreading
away from the ignition source through the
material.
Fundamental mechanism relies on the fact that
the fire itself would produce more heat than is
necessary to promote the initial combustion
reaction.

Two Important Factors in Determining

Fire Spread
The quantity of heat available from the
burning material.
The rate of this heat can be released.

Ignition
Source

Heat

Combustion

Excess
Heat

Heat
Losses

Further
Combustion

Heat

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Therefore, as excess heat is generated and fed

back to the unburnt fuel, the growth of fire will be
an accelerating process.
In the early stage of an enclosure fire, the fire size
is small and its interaction with the compartment
is negliable.
The fire is very similar to the one in an open
space.

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But an important factor for determining the initial

rate of spread is the proportion of generated heat
which is lost to the local environment.
This depends on many geometical and physical
parameters such as shape and orientation of the
fuel, presence of edges and corners, thermal
reflectance of surfaces and draughts.
Once the fire becomes well established locally, it
will continue to grow as long as fuel and oxygen
are available.

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The heat referred to as 'heat lost in the material' in

fact will still be conserved within the system.
Heat lost by conduction to other parts of material
will raise the temperature of it to its ignition
temperature.
Heat lost by convection and radiation will warm
the compartment and the adjacent combustible
materials.

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Hot gases emitted from the fire will form a plume

and raise to a form a layer under the ceiling to
warm up the walls and hence re-radiate heat.
At this stage, the fire can be referred to as
compartment fire and the progress of the fire will
be influenced by the geometry and physical
properties of the compartment.
Ventilation will play an important part in
controlling the rate of growth.

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When the plume reaches the ceiling, it will be

deflected horizontally (i.e. a ceiling jet).
Since oxygen will be entrained slower in the hot
smoke layer, the unburnt gases from the fire will
spread until they mixed with sufficient oxygen for
complete combustion.
So at the early stage, convective heat is responsible
for the general rise in temperature.
Then radiation, particularly downward radiation from
layers of flames and hot gases at the ceiling, will
contribute to the increasing rate of fire growth.

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As the temperatures and downward radiation in the

room increase, fuel at distance away from the ignition
source will be pre-heated.
Eventually, spontaneous ignition of contents distant
from the flame zone occurs.
This is generally happened when the hot gas layer
reaches at about 500 to 600C.

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Because of the sudden involvement of additional fuel,

the ceiling flames increase very rapidly, and the
thickness of hot gas layer increases, and so bringing
the flames down closer to the fuel and hence heat up
all the combustible materials within the room.
The air flow within the compartment will be turbulent
to enable rapid mixing of unburnt gas with air.
So the whole room appears to become full of flame.
This transition from the 'growth' to the 'developed'
stage is called flashover.

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(5) Flamming/Glowing
Flaming Mode (early
stage)

Flamming: Free burning with

gases/vapours (or volatiles) from
solid/liquid (condensed matter).

Glowing: Surface combustion:

burning localized to interfacial
surface between air and fuel.

Intermediate
Stage

Glowing Mode
(final stage)

Mass Rate of burning

Glowing
Region

Mass loss rate decreased

Time

Flaming and glowing combustion

Fire Fundamentals & Control Haessler (1989)

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3 or more nonluminous
flaming zones

Smoke & products of

incomplete combustion

Minimum free carbon

Flaming direction under
influence of thermal
update

Cold gas or atomized

liquid fuel zone
Mixing chamber

Fire intensity is a function of

fuel type
and radiative feedback

Controlled air induction

Fuel under pressure

Turbulent, nonzonal luminous

yellowish flaming-free carbon

Premixed flame
Fire Fundamentals & Control Haessler (1989)
Fuel cracking zone

Air Induction
Fuel

Diffusion flame
Fire Fundamentals & Control Haessler (1989)

(6) Combustion Chemistry

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Taking poly(methyl methacrylate) PMMA as

an example, the chemical structure is:
CH3
[ CH2 C
]
n
COOCH3

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The chemical reactions of PMMA burning

are very complex with 7 groups of possible
intermediate reactions:

Thermal decomposition

Thermal oxidative decomposition

Decomposition of monomer MMA

Methane combustion

Methanol combustion

Formaldehyde oxidation

Acetylene combustion

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Taking the group on methane combustion as an example, there are 77

intermediate reactions :

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