Evaluation of a fire protection network (FPN) model using open top combustible containers

Abstract

In many situations, large-scale fire tests are the only way to validate sprinkler protection design. However, testing capability may sometimes be hindered by laboratory limitations. To explore potential strategies to overcome these limitations, a fire protection network (FPN) model was developed to provide an alternative solution for the above situations, by supplementing limited test observations with model predictions to reach a conclusive result, without repeating the same test or requiring additional tests. The FPN model is a network model that treats various burning surfaces as different types of fuel nodes. Simplified fire spread sub-models are proposed using effective parameters, whose values are taken either from the literature or via optimization against fire tests. The FPN model shows a reasonable agreement against observations from a large-scale fire test, which demonstrates its potential to predict the sprinkler demand for scenarios beyond laboratory limitations.