Simplified flame models and prediction of the thermal radiation emitted by a flame front in an outdoor fire

Jean Louis Rossi (1) , Khaled Chetehouna (2) , Anthony Collin (3) , Basiliu Moretti (1) , Jean Henri Balbi (1)

1 SPE - Sciences pour l'environnement
2 PRISME - Laboratoire Pluridisciplinaire de Recherche en Ingénierie des Systèmes, Mécanique et Energétique
3 LEMTA - Laboratoire d'Energétique et Mécanique Théorique et Appliquée

This paper proposes a comparison between two simplified flame models. The first flame model uses the radiant surface approach with a new analytical expression for the heat flux. The second one is derived from the Radiative Transfer Equation. The fire front has been considered as a line characterized by some geometric and physical parameters. Two assumptions are used to model the flame either a radiant plane or a volumetric flame. The flame parameters have been identified from experiments using video records and applying an inverse method. These two models were tested against fires carried out in a fire tunnel and found to perform very well considering the complicate nature of the flame geometry and flame characteristics. The need to determine the heat flux from a large scale fire has lead to make a number of assumptions. By means of the proposed modeling, this study tries to determine the extent to which the range of assumptions made disqualifies some simplified flame models from use.

Mots clés: large scale fires

Mots clés: fire experiments, large scale fires., Flame models, heat flux

Domaines: Génie des procédés

Jean Louis Rossi, Khaled Chetehouna, Anthony Collin, Basiliu Moretti, Jean Henri Balbi. Simplified flame models and prediction of the thermal radiation emitted by a flame front in an outdoor fire. Combustion Science and Technology, 2010, 182, pp.1457-1477. ⟨10.1080/00102202.2010.489914⟩. ⟨hal-00652744⟩