Evaluating Practical Measurements of Fire-Induced Vent Flows with Stereoscopic PIV

Published

September 9, 2010

Author(s)

Rodney A. Bryant

Abstract

Stereoscopic particle image velocimetry (SPIV) was applied to a fire-induced doorway flow to provide the velocity field for computations of the mass flow rate of air into an enclosure. For a flow of uniform temperature and concentration, the technique meets all of the requirements to provide the best estimate of the mass flow rate. Simultaneous measurements of vertical distributions of velocity and temperature were also conducted with conventional vent flow techniques, bi-directional probes and thermocouples. Correction factors for mass flow rate computations using the conventional techniques were determined based on comparisons to the SPIV results. An average correction factor of unity was determined for the bi-directional probe technique thus further confirming the utilization of velocity distributions acquired using the technique in mass flow rate computations. An average correction factor of 0.68 was determined for mass flow rates computed from vertical temperature distributions inside the enclosure and outside the enclosure. This agrees with average correction factors determined in previous studies. The results of the present study suggest that the conventional techniques, which are practical and affordable for routine fire testing, may be applied with greater confidence for small fires.

Citation

Proceedings of the Combustion Institute

Volume

33

Pub Type

Journals

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Keywords

Fire-Induced Flow, Particle Image Velocimetry, Flow Measurement, Vent Flow

Citation

Bryant, R. (2010), Evaluating Practical Measurements of Fire-Induced Vent Flows with Stereoscopic PIV, Proceedings of the Combustion Institute, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=905022 (Accessed May 18, 2024)