Davood Zeinali | Université de Lorraine (original) (raw)

Papers by Davood Zeinali

Fire technology, Jun 24, 2024

The thesis before you is proof that I am indebted to so many for their kindness, wisdom, and frie... more The thesis before you is proof that I am indebted to so many for their kindness, wisdom, and friendship. First and foremost, I would like to thank my supervisor, Prof. Bart Merci, for his patience, generosity, and mentorship over the past few years, and for allowing me the freedom to engage in projects and collaborations outside my core research, that have enabled me to grow and mature as a researcher and scientist. By the same token, I would like to thank my co-supervisor, Dr. Georgios Maragkos, for lending his unique insight and experience, and for giving up so much of his time to assist with my research, especially the numerical work presented herein. Similarly, I am very grateful to Prof. Joris Degroote for co-supervising my research during the first years of this work and for providing valuable feedback on all my publications. Moreover, I owe special thanks to Prof. Tarek Beji whose good advice, support and friendship proved invaluable to me throughout my PhD. The corner fire experiments and the calorimetry tests conducted during the course of this thesis would not have been possible without the visionary support of WarringtonFireGent, and I am tremendously grateful to Dr. Bart Sette for having the vision to support and participate in this important work. I would also like to thank the staff of fire resistance and reaction to fire departments of WarringtonFireGent. In particular, I would like to thank Patrick Ysebie, Ruben De Ruyck, Jarich Van Wesemael, Herwin Coghe, Niek De Pauw and Steven Van de Walle whose practical know-how, incomparable skill, and willingness to help contributed greatly to the success of the experimental campaign. Lots of thanks are also due to master's student Emma Vandemoortele who helped me with the conduction of eight of the corner fire experiments as part of her thesis work for the program of Master of Science in Fire Safety Engineering at Ghent University. Moreover, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Prof. Steven Verstockt and his PhD student Florian Vandecasteele for lending their exceptional expertise on image processing and assisting with the analysis of the experimental footage. I gratefully acknowledge the financial support of Research Foundation Flanders (FWO Vlaanderen, project number G004912N) and Scientific Research Committee (CWO), enabling the communication of multiple papers in Combustion and Flame and several others in international conferences held in the US, the UK, China, and Cyprus. Finally, I am very grateful to my loving parents for giving me a happy childhood, my brothers for going to any lengths to help me anytime, my sister for always believing in me, my friends for being there when I needed them the most, and my girlfriend for always supporting and encouraging me, making it possible to write this thesis, which I hope you enjoy reading. vi Summary The Grenfell Tower fire in West London, sadly among many other examples, reminds us that we need to understand and be aware of the consequences of fire and how it propagates. Corner fires are known to spread more intensely in comparison to single wall fires. In view of the challenges associated with the prediction of such fire behavior, the fire growth in a corner configuration is investigated to provide a set of experimental data, consisting of 21 Single Burning Item (SBI) tests with Calcium Silicate (CS), Medium-Density Fiberboard (MDF) and plywood panels. The results of total Heat Release Rate (HRR), total Smoke Production Rate (SPR), puffing frequency, flame spread, flame heights, panel temperatures, and total heat fluxes at several characteristic locations are analyzed. This set of experimental data is expected to be useful for evaluation of fire simulation capabilities. xi bestaande uit verschillende Large Eddy Simulations (LES), met vergelijking met de experimentele resultaten. De simulaties richten zich op het belang van niet-uniforme massadichtheid van MDF-panelen in SBI-hoekbrandsimulaties. De analyse houdt rekening met zowel uniforme als niet-uniforme MDFmateriaaldichtheidsprofielen, met behulp van model-effectieve materiaaleigenschappen, bepaald op basis van bench-scale pyrolyseproeven uitgevoerd in een Fire Propagation Apparatus (FPA). De resultaten geven aan dat wanneer de niet-uniforme aard van de diktedichtheid van de diktes in aanmerking wordt genomen, de voorspelling van de brandgroei in termen van de totale HRR aanzienlijk verschilt (20% hogere piek HRR). Verder worden in gebieden verder weg van de hoek waar de invloed van thermische aanval van de brander minder dominant is, de totale warmtefluxen op de panelen, zijdelingse vlamverspreiding, oppervlaktepyrolyse en doorgaande-dikte verkoling significant beïnvloed door de niet-uniforme verdeling van de massadichtheid. Als onderdeel van deze studie is een nieuwe aanpak voorgesteld die kan worden gebruikt voor het bepalen van de locatie van het pyrolysefront op het oppervlak van de verkolende panelen.

In order to accurately predict the flame spread along a combustible wall, a better understanding ... more In order to accurately predict the flame spread along a combustible wall, a better understanding of the burning behaviour of a material exposed to external radiation is required. This work focuses on simulating the pyrolysis behaviour of the Medium Density Fiberboard (MDF) material. The numerical simulation tool used in this study is the Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS 6.2.0). A one-dimensional heat transfer solver that includes in-depth radiation is employed. The simulation results were compared with the experimental data, including the mass loss rate, and the surface temperature. The base case does not show satisfactory results for the time to reach the first peak and the value of that peak in the mass loss rate curve when compared to experimental data. The influence of the material properties and model parameters on the pyrolysis behaviour of MDF has been investigated in detail through a sensitivity analysis. For the considered range of parameters, the most significant influence on the time to the first peak comes from the emissivity, followed by the thermal conductivity, specific heat, and moisture content. For the peak mass loss rate, the most significant influence comes from the absorption coefficient, followed by the through-thickness density, the moisture content, and the specific heat. Only when proper values of these parameters were employed in the simulation, the onset of the pyrolysis process can be reasonably predicted. Through a simple trial and error procedure, a set of 'optimized' values of parameters including the in-depth absorption coefficient of char was obtained, which results in better agreement with experimental data.

Fire Safety Journal, Oct 1, 2023

Fire Safety Journal, May 1, 2021

The corner fire characteristics with two inert walls are compared against those with one or two c... more The corner fire characteristics with two inert walls are compared against those with one or two combustible corner walls through a set of standard Single Burning Item (SBI) tests. The study examines how the corner fire behavior is affected by flame spread over one or two walls. In the case of flame spread over one corner wall, the inert side is a Calcium Silicate (CS) panel. As for the combustible wall, two different materials have been tested, namely, plywood and Medium-Density Fiberboard (MDF) panels. The results indicate that the simultaneous burning of two panels in the corner geometry increases the Heat Release Rate (HRR) contribution of each panel by 45-50%. This is because the burning of one corner wall increases the temperatures on the adjacent wall significantly, occasionally by more than 200°C, and increases the heat fluxes on both corner walls at the same time, sometimes by nearly 20%. The results of HRR, Smoke Production Rate (SPR), flame heights, pyrolysis front propagation, panel temperatures, and total heat fluxes at several characteristic locations are presented.

Combustion and Flame, Mar 1, 2018

Corner fires are known to spread more intensely in comparison with single wall fires. In view of ... more Corner fires are known to spread more intensely in comparison with single wall fires. In view of the challenges associated with prediction of such fire behavior, the fire growth in a corner configuration of Medium Density Fiberboard (MDF) panels is investigated to provide a set of experimental data, performing Single Burning Item (SBI) tests. First, though, test results with inert calcium silicate panels are discussed for three values of HRR (10, 30 and 55 kW), allowing to address the main physics involved. The experimental data for 30 kW, the default SBI HRR, is used for detailed discussion of the observations. The SBI testing methodology, materials, and setup are described. The results of total Heat Release Rates (HRR) and Smoke Production Rates (SPR), as well as the panel temperatures and total heat fluxes at several characteristic locations are analyzed. Moreover, the puffing frequency of the corner fire is characterized thanks to Video Fire Analysis (VFA) of the experimental footage. Additionally, flame heights are discussed, including the concept of mirroring. A new correlation for mean flame height is introduced, using the hypotenuse of the triangle as characteristic length for Preprint submitted to Combustion and Flame February 20, 2018 entrainment of air into the fire plume, and expressing that the flame height increases proportional to the square root of the fire heat release rate. The 30 kW propane burner of the standard SBI test is shown to feature a mean flame height of nearly 0.9 m and a puffing frequency of 2 ± 0.3 Hz, and an average total heat flux exceeding 44 kW/m 2 near the burner early on in the test. The completeness of the dataset is expected to be useful for testing and development of CFD codes for corner fire scenarios.

Combustion and Flame, Mar 1, 2018

Having explained the characteristics of a corner fire in the configuration of Single Burning Item... more Having explained the characteristics of a corner fire in the configuration of Single Burning Item (SBI) test in Part I [1], the results of 3 flame spread experiments conducted with Medium Density Fiberboard (MDF) panels are discussed. The fire growth, in terms of flame heights and spread, is examined from two different angles visually and through Video Fire Analysis (VFA) with a flame detection algorithm. Total Heat Release Rates (HRR) and Smoke Production Rates (SPR), as well as total heat fluxes at several characteristic locations, are presented. Moreover, temperature evolutions are discussed for multiple locations and through the thickness of the panels. Also the backside temperatures, important as boundary condition for numerical simulations, are reported. The corner fire tests with MDF panels yield an average peak HRR of 151 kW and an average total heat flux exceeding 60 kW/m 2 close to the burner, with average flame heights surpassing 1.5 m in about 60 s.

HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe), Jun 6, 2021

Experiments have been conducted at LEMTA to evaluate the containment of thermal radiation using w... more Experiments have been conducted at LEMTA to evaluate the containment of thermal radiation using water curtains in a model setup of a ro-ro ship's cargo deck with a scale of 1 to 12.5, providing data for future numerical simulations. The water curtains are created with one or two rows of water mist nozzles at pressures ranging from 3 to 8 bar, while the radiation source is an electric black body at 550ºC. The containment effect in terms of radiative attenuation is evaluated by comparing the radiation levels with and without water curtains measured using a multispectral infrared camera.

Smart and sustainable built environment, Jan 27, 2022

Purpose-This paper explores the quality and flow of facade product information and the capabiliti... more Purpose-This paper explores the quality and flow of facade product information and the capabilities for avoiding the risk of facade fires early in the design process. Design/methodology/approach-A qualitative case study using the process tracing method is conducted in two stages. First, a thematic analysis of reports and literature identified two categories for the problems that caused fast fire spread across the Grenfell Tower facade. This enabled classifying the identified problems into four stages of a facade life cycle: product design and manufacturing, procurement, facade design and construction. Second, the capabilities for avoiding the problems were explored by conducting in-depth interviews with 18 experts in nine countries, analyzing design processes and designers' expertise and examining the usability of three digital interfaces in providing required information for designing fire-safe facades. Findings-The results show fundamental flaws in the quality of facade product information and usability of digital interfaces concerning fire safety. These flaws, fragmented design processes and overreliance on other specialists increase the risk of design defects that cause fast fire spread across facades. Practical implications-The findings have implications for standardization of building product information, digitalization in industrialized construction and facade design management. Originality/value-This research adds to the body of knowledge on sustainability in the built environment. It is the first study to highlight the fundamental problem of facade product information, which requires urgent attention in the rapid transition toward digital and industrialized construction.

Journal of Fire Sciences, Apr 8, 2022

The aim of this work is to study and characterize the fire behavior of vertically oriented spruce... more The aim of this work is to study and characterize the fire behavior of vertically oriented spruce wood panels using experiments conducted at the scales of cone calorimeter and single burning item tests. For this purpose, first incombustible panels were exposed to burner powers of 15, 20, 30, and 50 kW in the single burning item tests to obtain a mapping of the total heat fluxes received by the panel. Subsequently, wood panels were exposed to the same burner powers for exposure times of 15, 20, and 30 min. Very thin thermocouples were embedded inside the wood panel to measure accurately the in-depth temperatures while the lateral position of the char front on the exposed surface and the depth of the char layer were also measured for each test. The latter measurement permitted to establish a char depth map according to the burner power and exposure time. Correspondingly, it was observed that for a fixed exposure time, the degraded area on the surface grows linearly with the burner power. Moreover, the in-depth char front position deduced from the 300 °C isotherm was found to comply very well with that obtained from direct measurements. Finally, a comparison is made between the char front depths measured with the single burning item and those measured with the cone calorimeter for similar heat fluxes, showing that the corresponding charring rates from these two tests deviate from one another only at low heat fluxes.

There is an increased interest in accurately modeling the fire growth behavior in corner fire sce... more There is an increased interest in accurately modeling the fire growth behavior in corner fire scenarios in the fire safety community. This is due to the fact that corner fires are known to spread more intensely in comparison with single wall fires. This work focuses on simulating available Single Burning Item (SBI) experiments with Medium Density Fiberboard (MDF) panels placed in a corner configuration. The computational analysis is conducted using FireFOAM, an open source fire modeling code which integrates key physical models relating to material pyrolysis, fluid mechanics, heat transfer, combustion, and multiphase flows. The non-uniform nature of the through-thickness density of MDF is considered and simulated along with a uniform density simulation to examine its importance on the fire growth predictions. The simulations are evaluated against the experimental measurements of total Heat Release Rate (HRR) and total heat fluxes at several characteristic locations. In addition, the simulations are compared with video recordings of the SBI experiments.

Experiments have been conducted at LEMTA to evaluate the containment of thermal radiation using w... more Experiments have been conducted at LEMTA to evaluate the containment of thermal radiation using water curtains in a model setup of a ro-ro ship's cargo deck with a scale of 1 to 12.5, providing data for future numerical simulations. The water curtains are created with one or two rows of water mist nozzles at pressures ranging from 3 to 8 bar, while the radiation source is an electric black body at 550ºC. The containment effect in terms of radiative attenuation is evaluated by comparing the radiation levels with and without water curtains measured using a multispectral infrared camera.

Journal of Fire Sciences

The aim of this work is to study and characterize the fire behavior of vertically oriented spruce... more The aim of this work is to study and characterize the fire behavior of vertically oriented spruce wood panels using experiments conducted at the scales of cone calorimeter and single burning item tests. For this purpose, first incombustible panels were exposed to burner powers of 15, 20, 30, and 50 kW in the single burning item tests to obtain a mapping of the total heat fluxes received by the panel. Subsequently, wood panels were exposed to the same burner powers for exposure times of 15, 20, and 30 min. Very thin thermocouples were embedded inside the wood panel to measure accurately the in-depth temperatures while the lateral position of the char front on the exposed surface and the depth of the char layer were also measured for each test. The latter measurement permitted to establish a char depth map according to the burner power and exposure time. Correspondingly, it was observed that for a fixed exposure time, the degraded area on the surface grows linearly with the burner pow...

Smart and Sustainable Built Environment, 2022

Purpose This paper explores the quality and flow of facade product information and the capabiliti... more Purpose This paper explores the quality and flow of facade product information and the capabilities for avoiding the risk of facade fires early in the design process. Design/methodology/approach A qualitative case study using the process tracing method is conducted in two stages. First, a thematic analysis of reports and literature identified two categories for the problems that caused fast fire spread across the Grenfell Tower facade. This enabled classifying the identified problems into four stages of a facade life cycle: product design and manufacturing, procurement, facade design and construction. Second, the capabilities for avoiding the problems were explored by conducting in-depth interviews with 18 experts in nine countries, analyzing design processes and designers' expertise and examining the usability of three digital interfaces in providing required information for designing fire-safe facades. Findings The results show fundamental flaws in the quality of facade produc...

Combustion and Flame, 2019

Combustion and Flame, 2018

Corner fires are known to spread more intensely in comparison with single wall fires. In view of ... more Corner fires are known to spread more intensely in comparison with single wall fires. In view of the challenges associated with prediction of such fire behavior, the fire growth in a corner configuration of Medium Density Fiberboard (MDF) panels is investigated to provide a set of experimental data, performing Single Burning Item (SBI) tests. First, though, test results with inert calcium silicate panels are discussed for three values of HRR (10, 30 and 55 kW), allowing to address the main physics involved. The experimental data for 30 kW, the default SBI HRR, is used for detailed discussion of the observations. The SBI testing methodology, materials, and set-up are described. The results of total Heat Release Rates (HRR) and Smoke Production Rates (SPR), as well as the panel temperatures and total heat fluxes at several characteristic locations are analyzed. Moreover, the puffing frequency of the corner fire is characterized thanks to Video Fire Analysis (VFA) of the experimental footage. Additionally, flame heights are discussed, including the concept of mirroring. A new correlation for mean flame height is introduced, using the hypotenuse of the triangle as characteristic length for entrainment of air into the fire plume, and expressing that the flame height increases proportional to the square root of the fire heat release rate. The 30 kW propane burner of the standard SBI test is shown to feature a mean flame height of nearly 0.9 m and a puffing frequency of 2 ± 0.3 Hz, and an average total heat flux exceeding 44 kW/m² near the burner early on in the test. The completeness of the dataset is expected to be useful for testing and development of CFD codes for corner fire scenarios.

Fire technology, Jun 24, 2024

The thesis before you is proof that I am indebted to so many for their kindness, wisdom, and frie... more The thesis before you is proof that I am indebted to so many for their kindness, wisdom, and friendship. First and foremost, I would like to thank my supervisor, Prof. Bart Merci, for his patience, generosity, and mentorship over the past few years, and for allowing me the freedom to engage in projects and collaborations outside my core research, that have enabled me to grow and mature as a researcher and scientist. By the same token, I would like to thank my co-supervisor, Dr. Georgios Maragkos, for lending his unique insight and experience, and for giving up so much of his time to assist with my research, especially the numerical work presented herein. Similarly, I am very grateful to Prof. Joris Degroote for co-supervising my research during the first years of this work and for providing valuable feedback on all my publications. Moreover, I owe special thanks to Prof. Tarek Beji whose good advice, support and friendship proved invaluable to me throughout my PhD. The corner fire experiments and the calorimetry tests conducted during the course of this thesis would not have been possible without the visionary support of WarringtonFireGent, and I am tremendously grateful to Dr. Bart Sette for having the vision to support and participate in this important work. I would also like to thank the staff of fire resistance and reaction to fire departments of WarringtonFireGent. In particular, I would like to thank Patrick Ysebie, Ruben De Ruyck, Jarich Van Wesemael, Herwin Coghe, Niek De Pauw and Steven Van de Walle whose practical know-how, incomparable skill, and willingness to help contributed greatly to the success of the experimental campaign. Lots of thanks are also due to master's student Emma Vandemoortele who helped me with the conduction of eight of the corner fire experiments as part of her thesis work for the program of Master of Science in Fire Safety Engineering at Ghent University. Moreover, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Prof. Steven Verstockt and his PhD student Florian Vandecasteele for lending their exceptional expertise on image processing and assisting with the analysis of the experimental footage. I gratefully acknowledge the financial support of Research Foundation Flanders (FWO Vlaanderen, project number G004912N) and Scientific Research Committee (CWO), enabling the communication of multiple papers in Combustion and Flame and several others in international conferences held in the US, the UK, China, and Cyprus. Finally, I am very grateful to my loving parents for giving me a happy childhood, my brothers for going to any lengths to help me anytime, my sister for always believing in me, my friends for being there when I needed them the most, and my girlfriend for always supporting and encouraging me, making it possible to write this thesis, which I hope you enjoy reading. vi Summary The Grenfell Tower fire in West London, sadly among many other examples, reminds us that we need to understand and be aware of the consequences of fire and how it propagates. Corner fires are known to spread more intensely in comparison to single wall fires. In view of the challenges associated with the prediction of such fire behavior, the fire growth in a corner configuration is investigated to provide a set of experimental data, consisting of 21 Single Burning Item (SBI) tests with Calcium Silicate (CS), Medium-Density Fiberboard (MDF) and plywood panels. The results of total Heat Release Rate (HRR), total Smoke Production Rate (SPR), puffing frequency, flame spread, flame heights, panel temperatures, and total heat fluxes at several characteristic locations are analyzed. This set of experimental data is expected to be useful for evaluation of fire simulation capabilities. xi bestaande uit verschillende Large Eddy Simulations (LES), met vergelijking met de experimentele resultaten. De simulaties richten zich op het belang van niet-uniforme massadichtheid van MDF-panelen in SBI-hoekbrandsimulaties. De analyse houdt rekening met zowel uniforme als niet-uniforme MDFmateriaaldichtheidsprofielen, met behulp van model-effectieve materiaaleigenschappen, bepaald op basis van bench-scale pyrolyseproeven uitgevoerd in een Fire Propagation Apparatus (FPA). De resultaten geven aan dat wanneer de niet-uniforme aard van de diktedichtheid van de diktes in aanmerking wordt genomen, de voorspelling van de brandgroei in termen van de totale HRR aanzienlijk verschilt (20% hogere piek HRR). Verder worden in gebieden verder weg van de hoek waar de invloed van thermische aanval van de brander minder dominant is, de totale warmtefluxen op de panelen, zijdelingse vlamverspreiding, oppervlaktepyrolyse en doorgaande-dikte verkoling significant beïnvloed door de niet-uniforme verdeling van de massadichtheid. Als onderdeel van deze studie is een nieuwe aanpak voorgesteld die kan worden gebruikt voor het bepalen van de locatie van het pyrolysefront op het oppervlak van de verkolende panelen.

In order to accurately predict the flame spread along a combustible wall, a better understanding ... more In order to accurately predict the flame spread along a combustible wall, a better understanding of the burning behaviour of a material exposed to external radiation is required. This work focuses on simulating the pyrolysis behaviour of the Medium Density Fiberboard (MDF) material. The numerical simulation tool used in this study is the Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS 6.2.0). A one-dimensional heat transfer solver that includes in-depth radiation is employed. The simulation results were compared with the experimental data, including the mass loss rate, and the surface temperature. The base case does not show satisfactory results for the time to reach the first peak and the value of that peak in the mass loss rate curve when compared to experimental data. The influence of the material properties and model parameters on the pyrolysis behaviour of MDF has been investigated in detail through a sensitivity analysis. For the considered range of parameters, the most significant influence on the time to the first peak comes from the emissivity, followed by the thermal conductivity, specific heat, and moisture content. For the peak mass loss rate, the most significant influence comes from the absorption coefficient, followed by the through-thickness density, the moisture content, and the specific heat. Only when proper values of these parameters were employed in the simulation, the onset of the pyrolysis process can be reasonably predicted. Through a simple trial and error procedure, a set of 'optimized' values of parameters including the in-depth absorption coefficient of char was obtained, which results in better agreement with experimental data.

Fire Safety Journal, Oct 1, 2023

Fire Safety Journal, May 1, 2021

The corner fire characteristics with two inert walls are compared against those with one or two c... more The corner fire characteristics with two inert walls are compared against those with one or two combustible corner walls through a set of standard Single Burning Item (SBI) tests. The study examines how the corner fire behavior is affected by flame spread over one or two walls. In the case of flame spread over one corner wall, the inert side is a Calcium Silicate (CS) panel. As for the combustible wall, two different materials have been tested, namely, plywood and Medium-Density Fiberboard (MDF) panels. The results indicate that the simultaneous burning of two panels in the corner geometry increases the Heat Release Rate (HRR) contribution of each panel by 45-50%. This is because the burning of one corner wall increases the temperatures on the adjacent wall significantly, occasionally by more than 200°C, and increases the heat fluxes on both corner walls at the same time, sometimes by nearly 20%. The results of HRR, Smoke Production Rate (SPR), flame heights, pyrolysis front propagation, panel temperatures, and total heat fluxes at several characteristic locations are presented.

Combustion and Flame, Mar 1, 2018

Corner fires are known to spread more intensely in comparison with single wall fires. In view of ... more Corner fires are known to spread more intensely in comparison with single wall fires. In view of the challenges associated with prediction of such fire behavior, the fire growth in a corner configuration of Medium Density Fiberboard (MDF) panels is investigated to provide a set of experimental data, performing Single Burning Item (SBI) tests. First, though, test results with inert calcium silicate panels are discussed for three values of HRR (10, 30 and 55 kW), allowing to address the main physics involved. The experimental data for 30 kW, the default SBI HRR, is used for detailed discussion of the observations. The SBI testing methodology, materials, and setup are described. The results of total Heat Release Rates (HRR) and Smoke Production Rates (SPR), as well as the panel temperatures and total heat fluxes at several characteristic locations are analyzed. Moreover, the puffing frequency of the corner fire is characterized thanks to Video Fire Analysis (VFA) of the experimental footage. Additionally, flame heights are discussed, including the concept of mirroring. A new correlation for mean flame height is introduced, using the hypotenuse of the triangle as characteristic length for Preprint submitted to Combustion and Flame February 20, 2018 entrainment of air into the fire plume, and expressing that the flame height increases proportional to the square root of the fire heat release rate. The 30 kW propane burner of the standard SBI test is shown to feature a mean flame height of nearly 0.9 m and a puffing frequency of 2 ± 0.3 Hz, and an average total heat flux exceeding 44 kW/m 2 near the burner early on in the test. The completeness of the dataset is expected to be useful for testing and development of CFD codes for corner fire scenarios.

Combustion and Flame, Mar 1, 2018

Having explained the characteristics of a corner fire in the configuration of Single Burning Item... more Having explained the characteristics of a corner fire in the configuration of Single Burning Item (SBI) test in Part I [1], the results of 3 flame spread experiments conducted with Medium Density Fiberboard (MDF) panels are discussed. The fire growth, in terms of flame heights and spread, is examined from two different angles visually and through Video Fire Analysis (VFA) with a flame detection algorithm. Total Heat Release Rates (HRR) and Smoke Production Rates (SPR), as well as total heat fluxes at several characteristic locations, are presented. Moreover, temperature evolutions are discussed for multiple locations and through the thickness of the panels. Also the backside temperatures, important as boundary condition for numerical simulations, are reported. The corner fire tests with MDF panels yield an average peak HRR of 151 kW and an average total heat flux exceeding 60 kW/m 2 close to the burner, with average flame heights surpassing 1.5 m in about 60 s.

HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe), Jun 6, 2021

Experiments have been conducted at LEMTA to evaluate the containment of thermal radiation using w... more Experiments have been conducted at LEMTA to evaluate the containment of thermal radiation using water curtains in a model setup of a ro-ro ship's cargo deck with a scale of 1 to 12.5, providing data for future numerical simulations. The water curtains are created with one or two rows of water mist nozzles at pressures ranging from 3 to 8 bar, while the radiation source is an electric black body at 550ºC. The containment effect in terms of radiative attenuation is evaluated by comparing the radiation levels with and without water curtains measured using a multispectral infrared camera.

Smart and sustainable built environment, Jan 27, 2022

Purpose-This paper explores the quality and flow of facade product information and the capabiliti... more Purpose-This paper explores the quality and flow of facade product information and the capabilities for avoiding the risk of facade fires early in the design process. Design/methodology/approach-A qualitative case study using the process tracing method is conducted in two stages. First, a thematic analysis of reports and literature identified two categories for the problems that caused fast fire spread across the Grenfell Tower facade. This enabled classifying the identified problems into four stages of a facade life cycle: product design and manufacturing, procurement, facade design and construction. Second, the capabilities for avoiding the problems were explored by conducting in-depth interviews with 18 experts in nine countries, analyzing design processes and designers' expertise and examining the usability of three digital interfaces in providing required information for designing fire-safe facades. Findings-The results show fundamental flaws in the quality of facade product information and usability of digital interfaces concerning fire safety. These flaws, fragmented design processes and overreliance on other specialists increase the risk of design defects that cause fast fire spread across facades. Practical implications-The findings have implications for standardization of building product information, digitalization in industrialized construction and facade design management. Originality/value-This research adds to the body of knowledge on sustainability in the built environment. It is the first study to highlight the fundamental problem of facade product information, which requires urgent attention in the rapid transition toward digital and industrialized construction.

Journal of Fire Sciences, Apr 8, 2022

The aim of this work is to study and characterize the fire behavior of vertically oriented spruce... more The aim of this work is to study and characterize the fire behavior of vertically oriented spruce wood panels using experiments conducted at the scales of cone calorimeter and single burning item tests. For this purpose, first incombustible panels were exposed to burner powers of 15, 20, 30, and 50 kW in the single burning item tests to obtain a mapping of the total heat fluxes received by the panel. Subsequently, wood panels were exposed to the same burner powers for exposure times of 15, 20, and 30 min. Very thin thermocouples were embedded inside the wood panel to measure accurately the in-depth temperatures while the lateral position of the char front on the exposed surface and the depth of the char layer were also measured for each test. The latter measurement permitted to establish a char depth map according to the burner power and exposure time. Correspondingly, it was observed that for a fixed exposure time, the degraded area on the surface grows linearly with the burner power. Moreover, the in-depth char front position deduced from the 300 °C isotherm was found to comply very well with that obtained from direct measurements. Finally, a comparison is made between the char front depths measured with the single burning item and those measured with the cone calorimeter for similar heat fluxes, showing that the corresponding charring rates from these two tests deviate from one another only at low heat fluxes.

There is an increased interest in accurately modeling the fire growth behavior in corner fire sce... more There is an increased interest in accurately modeling the fire growth behavior in corner fire scenarios in the fire safety community. This is due to the fact that corner fires are known to spread more intensely in comparison with single wall fires. This work focuses on simulating available Single Burning Item (SBI) experiments with Medium Density Fiberboard (MDF) panels placed in a corner configuration. The computational analysis is conducted using FireFOAM, an open source fire modeling code which integrates key physical models relating to material pyrolysis, fluid mechanics, heat transfer, combustion, and multiphase flows. The non-uniform nature of the through-thickness density of MDF is considered and simulated along with a uniform density simulation to examine its importance on the fire growth predictions. The simulations are evaluated against the experimental measurements of total Heat Release Rate (HRR) and total heat fluxes at several characteristic locations. In addition, the simulations are compared with video recordings of the SBI experiments.

Experiments have been conducted at LEMTA to evaluate the containment of thermal radiation using w... more Experiments have been conducted at LEMTA to evaluate the containment of thermal radiation using water curtains in a model setup of a ro-ro ship's cargo deck with a scale of 1 to 12.5, providing data for future numerical simulations. The water curtains are created with one or two rows of water mist nozzles at pressures ranging from 3 to 8 bar, while the radiation source is an electric black body at 550ºC. The containment effect in terms of radiative attenuation is evaluated by comparing the radiation levels with and without water curtains measured using a multispectral infrared camera.

Journal of Fire Sciences

The aim of this work is to study and characterize the fire behavior of vertically oriented spruce... more The aim of this work is to study and characterize the fire behavior of vertically oriented spruce wood panels using experiments conducted at the scales of cone calorimeter and single burning item tests. For this purpose, first incombustible panels were exposed to burner powers of 15, 20, 30, and 50 kW in the single burning item tests to obtain a mapping of the total heat fluxes received by the panel. Subsequently, wood panels were exposed to the same burner powers for exposure times of 15, 20, and 30 min. Very thin thermocouples were embedded inside the wood panel to measure accurately the in-depth temperatures while the lateral position of the char front on the exposed surface and the depth of the char layer were also measured for each test. The latter measurement permitted to establish a char depth map according to the burner power and exposure time. Correspondingly, it was observed that for a fixed exposure time, the degraded area on the surface grows linearly with the burner pow...

Smart and Sustainable Built Environment, 2022

Purpose This paper explores the quality and flow of facade product information and the capabiliti... more Purpose This paper explores the quality and flow of facade product information and the capabilities for avoiding the risk of facade fires early in the design process. Design/methodology/approach A qualitative case study using the process tracing method is conducted in two stages. First, a thematic analysis of reports and literature identified two categories for the problems that caused fast fire spread across the Grenfell Tower facade. This enabled classifying the identified problems into four stages of a facade life cycle: product design and manufacturing, procurement, facade design and construction. Second, the capabilities for avoiding the problems were explored by conducting in-depth interviews with 18 experts in nine countries, analyzing design processes and designers' expertise and examining the usability of three digital interfaces in providing required information for designing fire-safe facades. Findings The results show fundamental flaws in the quality of facade produc...

Combustion and Flame, 2019

Combustion and Flame, 2018

Corner fires are known to spread more intensely in comparison with single wall fires. In view of ... more Corner fires are known to spread more intensely in comparison with single wall fires. In view of the challenges associated with prediction of such fire behavior, the fire growth in a corner configuration of Medium Density Fiberboard (MDF) panels is investigated to provide a set of experimental data, performing Single Burning Item (SBI) tests. First, though, test results with inert calcium silicate panels are discussed for three values of HRR (10, 30 and 55 kW), allowing to address the main physics involved. The experimental data for 30 kW, the default SBI HRR, is used for detailed discussion of the observations. The SBI testing methodology, materials, and set-up are described. The results of total Heat Release Rates (HRR) and Smoke Production Rates (SPR), as well as the panel temperatures and total heat fluxes at several characteristic locations are analyzed. Moreover, the puffing frequency of the corner fire is characterized thanks to Video Fire Analysis (VFA) of the experimental footage. Additionally, flame heights are discussed, including the concept of mirroring. A new correlation for mean flame height is introduced, using the hypotenuse of the triangle as characteristic length for entrainment of air into the fire plume, and expressing that the flame height increases proportional to the square root of the fire heat release rate. The 30 kW propane burner of the standard SBI test is shown to feature a mean flame height of nearly 0.9 m and a puffing frequency of 2 ± 0.3 Hz, and an average total heat flux exceeding 44 kW/m² near the burner early on in the test. The completeness of the dataset is expected to be useful for testing and development of CFD codes for corner fire scenarios.