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PUBLICATIONS

Transient Application, Recirculating Pool Fire, Agent Effectiveness Screen, Final Report, NGP Project 3A/2/890

Published

Author(s)

William L. Grosshandler, Anthony P. Hamins, Kevin B. McGrattan, Cary Presser

Abstract

A laboratory-scale facility has been developed to screen the suppression effectiveness of fire fighting agents that are delivered in a transient fashion such as solid propellant gas generators. The transient application, recirculating pool fire (TARPF) agent effectiveness screen features a propane fire stabilized behind an obstruction, which is known to be a highly challenging suppression configuration. The character of the flame and the impact of the air flow, fuel flow, obstruction geometry, and rate of agent addition on the amount of material needed for suppression are evaluated for N2, CF3Br, and a solid propellant gas generator (SPGG). The importance of the injection process on the flow field and the transport of the agent downstream is examined, and a simple mixing model is used to explain the observed trend of decreasing suppressant mole fraction with increasing injection duration, even for agents as different as CF3Br and N2 . Direct numerical simulation of the suppression event is shown to successfully predict the quantity and rate of N2 required to extinguish the flame based upon a published global reaction rate for premixed propane/air flame propagation. (Appendix A is also identified in this report)
Citation
NIST Interagency/Internal Report (NISTIR) - 6733
Report Number
6733
NIST Pub Series
NIST Interagency/Internal Report (NISTIR)
Pub Type
NIST Pubs

Download Paper

https://doi.org/10.6028/NIST.IR.6733

Keywords

pool fires, effectiveness, fire suppression, solid propellant gas generators, halon alternatives, aircraft fires
Buildings and Construction and Fire

Citation

Grosshandler, W. , Hamins, A. , McGrattan, K. and Presser, C. (2001), Transient Application, Recirculating Pool Fire, Agent Effectiveness Screen, Final Report, NGP Project 3A/2/890, NIST Interagency/Internal Report (NISTIR), National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD, [online], https://doi.org/10.6028/NIST.IR.6733 (Accessed October 7, 2025)

Issues

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Created April 1, 2001, Updated November 10, 2018
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