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Fire: Condition of flash over Fire: process of combustion

QAT
time of burning W
330 A H
No flash over conditions (empirical)
Aw H 1/2  0.8 m5/2 also correpond to rate of buring
of 80 g / s for wood
Beyond above limit, lower limit of burning for flash
over condition, is a function of ventilation factor as

m&lim it 50.0  33.3 Aw H 1/ 2 g / s

B. Bhattacharjee B. Bhattacharjee
2 3
DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING, IIT DELHI DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING, IIT DELHI

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Fire: process of combustion Fire: process of combustion

q&c q&L  q&w  q&R  q&B ; q&R rate of heat loss by radiation
q&c rate of heat release due to combustion through the openings;
q&L rateof heat loss due to replacement of q&B rate of heat storage in the gas;
hot gases by cold; (small generally neglected).
q&w rate of heat loss through the walls,
ceiling and floor;
B. Bhattacharjee B. Bhattacharjee
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DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING, IIT DELHI DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING, IIT DELHI
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Fire: Condition of flash over Fire: Condition of flash over

q&c 0.09 Aw H 1/ 2 'H c q&L m&F c pF (Tg  To )
q&R Aw  F V (T g4  T04 ) k W Mass flow rate of gases is assumed to same as air
inlet rate
T g4 ? T04 ; V 5.67 u 10  8 W / m 2 / o K 4 1
m&F m&air 0.52 AW H 2

q&R Aw  F V T 4
g
F 1  exp(  KxF )
q&L 0.52c pF (Tg  Ta ) Aw H 1/2
xF Flame thickness
K emission coefficient 1.1

B. Bhattacharjee B. Bhattacharjee
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DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING, IIT DELHI DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING, IIT DELHI

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Fire: Condition of flash over Fire: process of combustion

Conduction heat loss is model through heat diffusion
equation and can be treated using Finite difference

The gas temperature Tg is unknown, conductivity is

function of temperature hence non-linear problem
can be solved by trial and error to estimate gas
temperature

Results obtained by Patterson is given

B. Bhattacharjee B. Bhattacharjee
8 9
DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING, IIT DELHI DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING, IIT DELHI
 Fire: process of combustion Fire: process of combustion

B. Bhattacharjee B. Bhattacharjee
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DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING, IIT DELHI DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING, IIT DELHI

General Outline Concrete

™ Effect of fire on materials.
B. Bhattacharjee
2 DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING, IIT DELHI
DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING, IIT DELHI
• Cement hydrates (binder) + aggregates.
• Cement hydrates is C-S-H gel structure.
Specific surface of cement (Blains
method) is about 300 m2/kg.
The hydrates have a very high surface
area, 1000 times that of cement, hence
surface forces have a major role to play
and surface forces start dominating the
properties.
B. Bhattacharjee
 Concrete
C-S-H has got water bonded chemically, it
also has gel pores which contain ‘gel
water’ and there are larger capillary
pores..
Hence we can say C-S-H gel has
chemically bonded water.
Adsorbed water (gel water, held by
surface forces)
B. Bhattacharjee
DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING, IIT DELHI
Concrete on heating
At 400 - 600ºc – the heat starts attacking
the water, which bonded chemically and
the cementing property is lost.(this is an
irreversible reaction.).
At 600 - 800ºc – the Ca(OH)2 (which was a
by product of hydration).breaks down to
CaO + H2O. now the entire concrete has
degenerated completely.
B. Bhattacharjee
DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING, IIT DELHI
Concrete On Heating
At 100ºc to 150ºc – capillary water
evaporates. There is no structure change,
only some surface energy has been
added, which will make it try to absorb
water.
At 200 - 400ºc – the adsorbed water is
lost. There will now be shrinkages and
since it is under restraint, there will be
fine cracks. The gel structure will start to
collapse.
B. Bhattacharjee
DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING, IIT DELHI
Concrete on heating
Beyond 300ºc the residual strength
reduces progressive till at 800ºc there is
no structure. Spalling will be seen at
800ºc.
If aggregate has CaCO3 contact, at 600ºc
the CaCO3 gives CaO + CO2 . The reaction
can be explosive in nature.
B. Bhattacharjee
DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING, IIT DELHI
Materials Concrete Materials Concrete

B. Bhattacharjee B. Bhattacharjee
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DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING, IIT DELHI DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING, IIT DELHI

Materials Concrete Steel on heating

Steel is an alloy Fe – C.
During fire there is thermal expansion
and at 550ºc, steel loses most of its
structure, hence if it is still loaded, it will
warp. Once cooled, it will regain some
structure, but cannot regain its original
structure and strength.
Fire resistance of mild steel is the time
required for the steel to reach 550ºc.

B. Bhattacharjee
B. Bhattacharjee
10 DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING, IIT DELHI
DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING, IIT DELHI
 Materials Steel Materials Steel

B. Bhattacharjee B. Bhattacharjee
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DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING, IIT DELHI DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING, IIT DELHI

Timber on heating Timber on heating

Wood is cellulose embedded in lignin. If large surface area of wood is
The cellulose is a long chain molecule. exposed to heat, then pyrolysis
When heated, the long chain may break takes place.
and cross linking may occur, this is Charring occurs in logs where entire
charring (usually seen in logs).
wood is not exposed to high
If the long chains disintegrate then
temperature immediately.
volatile gases takes place and the timber
burns. When occurs some structure is
retained.
B. Bhattacharjee B. Bhattacharjee
DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING, IIT DELHI DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING, IIT DELHI
 Plastics on heating Plastics on heating
They don’t have a fixed melting
point. The important feature of polymer is
They soften and over a period of the gases or smoke they produce
time, and melt. can be toxic with cyanide gases.
(Tg) is glass transition temperature
for thermoplastics.

B. Bhattacharjee B. Bhattacharjee
DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING, IIT DELHI DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING, IIT DELHI

Structures Gypsum

B. Bhattacharjee B. Bhattacharjee
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DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING, IIT DELHI DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING, IIT DELHI
 Gypsum Steel members
Encasing in Concrete
Gypsum(CaSO4.2H2O) this is very useful
since it will absorb a lot of heat while
losing the water and the remaining CaSO4
is also a good insulator. Gypsum boards
are used.
Water column: the columns are
interconnected to an overhead tank which
also has a vent for vapour escape.
B. Bhattacharjee
B. Bhattacharjee DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING, IIT DELHI
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DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING, IIT DELHI

Water filled column Water filled column

B. Bhattacharjee B. Bhattacharjee
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DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING, IIT DELHI DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING, IIT DELHI
 General Outline Design for fire Resistance
Temperature attained = 550ºC – failure.
Reinforced concrete: Temperature of
™ Designing for Fire resistance. rebar = 550ºc – failure.
™ Steel member Conductivity of concrete is very low of
™ Fire resistant steel the order of 1 -2 W/mºC
IS code: more fire resistance dictates
more cover, but cannot be increased
indefinitely. More the cover, more the
strain in the steel, also extra material.
.
B. Bhattacharjee
B. Bhattacharjee
2 DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING, IIT DELHI
DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING, IIT DELHI

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DESIGN FOR FIRE RESISTANCE
DESIGN FOR FIRE RESISTANCE (STEEL)
Design of a simple Steel section for fire
resistance: Heat transfer to steel
‘l’ = thickness of the material . Qin = AsHV[(Tg i+1 +273)4 – (Ts i +273)4]ǻt +
Tg = Ta + 345(log 8t +1) hc As [(Tg i+1 – Ts i)] ǻt kW
The steel section is engulfed in fire. This will cause an increase in the heat
content of the steel = ȡs VCs(Ts i+1 – Tsi).
= Q stored

B. Bhattacharjee B. Bhattacharjee
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DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING, IIT DELHI DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING, IIT DELHI
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DESIGN FOR FIRE RESISTANCE DESIGN FOR FIRE RESISTANCE

Example: Section as shown
By equating Heat input Qin to heat stored Example: box Section as shown 200mm u
Qstored , we can work out the time required 200mm with thickness of 15 mm engulfed
for the temperature required for the in fire from all sides
temperature of steel TS to reach 550ºc. Properties: H =0.65
V=5.71e-8;ȡs =7850kg/cu.m
hc=0.023 kW/sq.m qK
Cs= 0.54kJ/kg

B. Bhattacharjee B. Bhattacharjee
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DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING, IIT DELHI DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING, IIT DELHI

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DESIGN FOR FIRE RESISTANCE

Assume time step of 120 secs and
ambient temperature of 25 qC.
A=AsHV[(Tg i+1 +273)4 – (Ts i +273)4]/ ȡs VCs
B= hc As [(Tg i+1 – Ts i)] / ȡs VCs
After first step temperature is 64 and
after 2nd it is 119.
After 8 steps temperature is 555 deg C.
Thus Fire resistance is 16 minutes

B. Bhattacharjee
8
DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING, IIT DELHI