Fire Safety Science Digital Archive

A series of 3 free burn and 22 sprinklered fire tests was conducted to investigate cooling in room fires by sprinkler spray. The tests were conducted in a 3.66 m x 7.32 m x 2.44 m high test room, which had a 1.22 m x 2.44 m high door opening centered in one of the 3.66 m walls. The fire source was a spray fire with constant heptane flow rate, located opposite the room opening. In each test, only one sprinkler was installed at the ceiling. Three geometrically similar sprinklers with nozzle diameters of 11.1 mm, 8.36 mm, and 6.94 mm were tested. The gas temperatures inside the test room were measured at selected locations. In addition, the convective heat flux leaving the door opening and the total heat release rate of the fire were measured with a fire products collector. The heat loss rate to the walls and ceiling was measured, as well as radiative heat loss through the opening. Empirical correlations for the bulk gas temperature of the hot gas flowing out from the door opening were established for both free burn and sprinklered fire tests conducted in this study. Used with the previously established spray cooling correlations [2], the new correlations can predict the bulk gas temperature of the hot gas at the door opening for free burn and sprinklered room fires.