A Comparative Study of Fires in Corners and Along Walls

Abstract: The topic of fires in corners and along walls has been studied previously, however, two different studies conducted in 1987 and 2018 respectively, produced conflicting results regarding plume temperature for fires along walls, as well as hot gas layer temperature for both fires in corners and along walls. This thesis seeks to add data and clarification about fires in corners and along walls. The work started with a literature review to get clarity on what has already been done in the study of fires in corners and along walls. To add data to the research topic, 12 tests were conducted at the Fire Laboratory at LTH. Using gaseous propane as fuel, a corner-, wall- and centre configuration were used, with heat release rates 5 kW, 10 kW and 20 kW. Another three tests were conducted with the same configurations, but with liquid heptane with a heat release rate of 5 kW. Simulations were run in FDS to replicate some of the tests conducted. The literature review found that there are some differences in the result from different studies. The results from the experiment were that no differences in the hot gas layer temperature between the wall fires and free-burning fires could be seen, but there was an increase in hot gas layer temperature for corner fires. Plume temperature and flame height for fires in corners and along walls did increase compared to fires in the centre of the room. The simulations in FDS produced results that gave an increase in hot gas layer temperatures for both wall- and corner positions compared to the centre position. Despite being in accordance with theory and previous experiments, the simulations did not produce as high temperatures as predicted.