Fire Safety Science Digital Archive

Model-scale experiments were conducted on fire spread where the fire sources are placed in an open area, near a wall, under a ceiling, and under a ceiling with a suspended wall. The time required for a fire to spread between five liquid fuel pools arranged linearly is measured by igniting the central pool. The extension of the flames on a wall accelerates the fire spread; however, when the fire sources are placed away from the wall, the rate of fire spread is almost the same or is slightly lower than that in an open area. When the flames impinge continuously or they enter the smoke layer, the rate of fire spread increases significantly. Simple calculation methods are developed and the results are in fair agreement with the results of the experiments under a ceiling with suspended wall.