Sensors, Vol. 19, Pages 3628: Smoke Obscuration Measurements in Reduced-Scale Fire Modelling Based on Froude Number Similarity

Sensors, Vol. 19, Pages 3628: Smoke Obscuration Measurements in Reduced-Scale Fire Modelling Based on Froude Number Similarity
Sensors doi: 10.3390/s19163628
Authors:
Węgrzyński
Antosiewicz
Burdzy
Zimny
Krasuski

A common method for investigating various fire- and smoke-related phenoma is a reduced-scale fire modelling that uses the conservation concept of Froude number as its primary similarity criterion. Smoke obscuration measurements were not commonly used in this approach. In this paper, we propose a new type of optical densitometer that allows for smoke obscuration density measurements on a reduced-scale. This device uses a set of mirrors to increase the optical path length, so that the device may follow the geometrical scale of the model, but that still measures smoke obscuration as if it were in full scale. The principle of operation is based on the Bougher-Lambert-Beer law, with modifications related to the Froude number-based scaling principles, to streamline the measurements. The proposed low-budget (< $1000) device was built, calibrated with a set of the reference optical filters, and used in a series of full- (1:1) and reduced-scale (1:4) experiments with n-Heptane fires in a small compartment. The main limitation of this study is the assumption that there is similar soot production in full- and reduced-scale fires, which may not be true for many Froude-number scaling applications. Therefore, it must be investigated in a case-by-ca...

Source: Sensors - August 19, 2019 Category: Biotechnology Authors: W ęgrzyński Antosiewicz Burdzy Zimny Krasuski Tags: Article Source Type: research