Studying the Impact of Ventilation on Fire Patterns
This fire safety research project examines how ventilation impacts fire damage and the resulting fire patterns in structures representing single family homes.
This fire safety research project examines how ventilation impacts fire damage and the resulting fire patterns in structures representing single family homes.
Improving fire investigators’ understanding of fire patterns by increasing knowledge of fire behavior and the impact of ventilation on different fire scenarios
Knowledge of fire dynamics is critical for fire investigators to properly identify a fire’s origin. Fire dynamics depend on the relationship of the fuel, heat, and ventilation during a fire event. A ventilation change as simple as a door left open by an occupant fleeing the fire, a window open remote from the fire, or a window that fails as a result of fire growth could greatly impact the fire damage inside the structure.
Key objectives:
Full-scale testing was performed in representative models of modern single-family homes that incorporated modern construction practices.
Here’s why: over the past 30 years, home construction materials, contents, size and geometry have changed drastically—and consequently, so has fire behavior. Today’s fires, thriving as they do on predominantly synthetic materials, tend to become ventilation-limited. How and where a fire receives oxygen greatly impacts the fire dynamics and subsequent fire patterns.
Researchers performed three types of full-scale experiments over 40 days at UL’s Large Fire Lab in Northrbook, Illinois including:
Impact of Ventilation on Fire Patterns from UL FSRI on Vimeo.
Relevant Resources
RESOURCE #1: Impact of Ventilation on Fire Patterns Project Page
RESOURCE #2: Fire Investigation Data Portal
RESOURCE #3: Impact of Flashover Fire Conditions on Exposed Energized Electrical Cords and Cables Report
RESOURCE #4: Impact of Fixed Ventilation Fire Damage Patterns in Full-Scale Structures Report
RESOURCE #5: Introduction to Heat Transfer and Fire Measurement Online Course
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