{"title":"Underground Evacuation and Smoke Flow Simulation in Guangzhou International Financial City during Fire","authors":"L. Liao, Haiyang Li, Pengyu Li, X. Bao, Chengyu Hong, Daochu Wang, Xiaofeng Xie, Jianhao Fan, Peichen Wu","doi":"10.3390/fire6070266","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/fire6070266","url":null,"abstract":"The underground space in the Starting Area in the Guangzhou International Financial City is being developed to save resources and improve land benefits. However, high-density development has increased the likelihood of fires. Therefore, PyroSim and Pathfinder were used in this study to investigate the fire smoke flow and personnel evacuation in the underground space in the Starting Area. Firstly, the 2D temperature cloud map and the temperature and visibility recorded by sensor A over time of Zone I in the Starting Area were analyzed. Then, the 3D smoke diffusion, the 3D temperature diffusion map, and the value of thermocouple and smoke obscuration recorded by sensors of Zone II were analyzed. Next, smoke flow of Zones III to V in the Starting Area under different fire source positions was simulated. Finally, the personnel evacuation model was established to simulate the personnel flow rate and density. The simulation results show that the available safe evacuation time for people is 530 s when all the firefighting facilities fail and fire breaks out in Zone I. For large public spaces, the overall spread speed of fire is fast, which requires the use of the fire control system in time to control the spread of fire. Fortunately, the space of evacuation time is relatively sufficient; it only takes 143 s to evacuate personnel safely in Zone II, which is sufficient compared to the time for the fire to completely spread. Suggestions were made for fire safety management, such as evacuating personnel to the safety exits of other adjacent areas during a fire and installing linkage fire alarm systems in large public space s.","PeriodicalId":36395,"journal":{"name":"Fire-Switzerland","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2023-07-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46734761","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Arthur Lamounier Moura, D. Negreiros, G. Fernandes
{"title":"Effects of Fire Frequency Regimes on Flammability and Leaf Economics of Non-Graminoid Vegetation","authors":"Arthur Lamounier Moura, D. Negreiros, G. Fernandes","doi":"10.3390/fire6070265","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/fire6070265","url":null,"abstract":"Fire is an ecological factor that strongly influences plant communities and functional traits. Communities respond differently to fire, either decreasing or increasing in flammability and resource acquisition strategies. This study aimed to investigate the influence of fire over traits associated with flammability and the plant economic spectrum in a stressful and infertile mountainous grassland located in the Espinhaço mountain range in Brazil. Non-graminoid plant species were sampled in 60 5 m × 5 m plots distributed in three fire frequency categories. We measured several traits related to flammability—leaf dry matter content (LDMC), twig dry matter content, leaf area, bark thickness, branching architecture, plant height, leaf toughness (LT), and specific leaf area (SLA). Traits responded differently to the increase in fire frequency. For instance, the LDMC and LT were lower while the SLA was higher at high fire frequencies, indicating a trend towards reduced heat release and fire residence time. This shift resulted in the dominance of plants with a relatively more acquisitive strategy. This study brings evidence that traits respond coordinately towards a reduction of flammability with the increase in fire frequency and are strong indicators of the filtering role that fire plays as a disturbance on rupestrian grassland vegetation.","PeriodicalId":36395,"journal":{"name":"Fire-Switzerland","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2023-07-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47754684","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Kasra Shamsaei, T. Juliano, M. Roberts, Hamed Ebrahimian, N. Lareau, E. Rowell, B. Kosović
{"title":"The Role of Fuel Characteristics and Heat Release Formulations in Coupled Fire-Atmosphere Simulation","authors":"Kasra Shamsaei, T. Juliano, M. Roberts, Hamed Ebrahimian, N. Lareau, E. Rowell, B. Kosović","doi":"10.3390/fire6070264","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/fire6070264","url":null,"abstract":"In this study, we focus on the effects of fuel bed representation and fire heat and smoke distribution in a coupled fire-atmosphere simulation platform for two landscape-scale fires: the 2018 Camp Fire and the 2021 Caldor Fire. The fuel bed representation in the coupled fire-atmosphere simulation platform WRF-Fire currently includes only surface fuels. Thus, we enhance the model by adding canopy fuel characteristics and heat release, for which a method to calculate the heat generated from canopy fuel consumption is developed and implemented in WRF-Fire. Furthermore, the current WRF-Fire heat and smoke distribution in the atmosphere is replaced with a heat-conserving Truncated Gaussian (TG) function and its effects are evaluated. The simulated fire perimeters of case studies are validated against semi-continuous, high-resolution fire perimeters derived from NEXRAD radar observations. Furthermore, simulated plumes of the two fire cases are compared to NEXRAD radar reflectivity observations, followed by buoyancy analysis using simulated temperature and vertical velocity fields. The results show that while the improved fuel bed and the TG heat release scheme have small effects on the simulated fire perimeters of the wind-driven Camp Fire, they affect the propagation direction of the plume-driven Caldor Fire, leading to better-matching fire perimeters with the observations. However, the improved fuel bed representation, together with the TG heat smoke release scheme, leads to a more realistic plume structure in comparison to the observations in both fires. The buoyancy analysis also depicts more realistic fire-induced temperature anomalies and atmospheric circulation when the fuel bed is improved.","PeriodicalId":36395,"journal":{"name":"Fire-Switzerland","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2023-07-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46903606","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
C. Jodry, M. Heap, Kamal Bayramov, Günel Alizada, Sona Rustamova, Sevinj Nabiyeva
{"title":"Influence of High Temperature on the Physical and Mechanical Properties of Porous Limestone from Baku (Azerbaijan)","authors":"C. Jodry, M. Heap, Kamal Bayramov, Günel Alizada, Sona Rustamova, Sevinj Nabiyeva","doi":"10.3390/fire6070263","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/fire6070263","url":null,"abstract":"Limestone is a popular building stone worldwide. In Baku in Azerbaijan, local limestones have been used in construction, including in the walled historic city centre (Old City, Icherisheher). Located in a seismically-active area, Baku is prone to post-earthquake fires that can damage buildings and monuments. Here, we test the fire resistance of local limestone by measuring its physical (connected porosity, permeability, P-wave velocity, thermal properties) and mechanical (uniaxial compressive strength, Young’s modulus) properties before and after thermal-stressing to temperatures up to 600 °C. Our results show that connected porosity and permeability increase and that P-wave velocity, thermal conductivity, thermal diffusivity, specific heat capacity, uniaxial compressive strength, and Young’s modulus decrease as a function of increasing temperature. Microstructural analyses show that these changes are the result of thermal microcracking. Samples heated to 800 °C disintegrated due to the formation of portlandite following decarbonation. The data presented herein will assist damage assessments of limestone buildings and monuments in Baku following the unfortunate event of fire.","PeriodicalId":36395,"journal":{"name":"Fire-Switzerland","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2023-07-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44653299","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Spatial Structure of Lightning and Precipitation Associated with Lightning-Caused Wildfires in the Central to Eastern United States","authors":"B. Vant-Hull, W. Koshak","doi":"10.3390/fire6070262","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/fire6070262","url":null,"abstract":"The horizontal storm structure surrounding 92,512 lightning-ignited wildfires is examined in the mid to eastern sections of the United States from 2003 to 2015 using Vaisala’s National Lightning Detection Network (NLDN), NCEP’s Stage IV gauge-corrected radar precipitation mosaic, and the US Forest Service’s Fire Occurrence Database. Though lightning flash density peaks strongly around fire ignitions on the instantaneous 1 km scale, on the hourly 10 km scale, both the lightning and precipitation peaks are typically offset from fire ignitions. Lightning density is higher, and precipitation is lower around ignition points compared to non-ignition points. The average spatial distribution of total lightning flashes around fire ignitions is symmetrical, while that of precipitation and positive flashes is not. Though regression is consistent with the claim that positive flashes have a stronger association with ignition than negative flashes, the statistical significance is ambiguous and is contradicted by an unchanging positive flash fraction in the vicinity of wildfires.","PeriodicalId":36395,"journal":{"name":"Fire-Switzerland","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2023-07-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45812618","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Meta-Narrative Review of Artificial Intelligence Applications in Fire Engineering with Special Focus on Heat Transfer through Building Elements","authors":"I. Bakas, K. Kontoleon","doi":"10.3390/fire6070261","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/fire6070261","url":null,"abstract":"Artificial intelligence (AI), as a research and analysis method, has recently been gaining ground in the ever-evolving scientific field of fire engineering in buildings. Despite the initial delay in utilising machine learning and neural networks due to the shortfall of available computational power, a review of cutting-edge scientific research demonstrates that scientists are now exploring and routinely incorporating such systems in their research processes. As such, a considerable volume of new research is being produced comprising applications of AI in fire engineering. These findings and research questions ought to be summarised, organised, and made accessible for further investigation and refinement. The present study aims to identify recent scientific publications relating to artificial intelligence applications in fire engineering, with particular focus on those tackling the issue of heat transfer through building elements. The method of the meta-narrative review, as implemented in the field of medical advancement research, is discussed, adapted, and finally utilised to weave a narrative that enables the reader to follow the most recent, influential, and impactful works. Efforts are made to uncover trends in the search for heat transfer models and properties under fire loading using AI. The review concludes with our thoughts on how future research can enrich the current findings on heat transfer in buildings exposed to fire actions and elevated temperatures.","PeriodicalId":36395,"journal":{"name":"Fire-Switzerland","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2023-07-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48206592","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Paolo Mocellin, G. Pio, M. Carboni, F. Pilo, C. Vianello, E. Salzano
{"title":"Characterization of Medium-Scale Accidental Releases of LNG","authors":"Paolo Mocellin, G. Pio, M. Carboni, F. Pilo, C. Vianello, E. Salzano","doi":"10.3390/fire6070257","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/fire6070257","url":null,"abstract":"The need for sustainable energy sources has recently promoted the use of liquefied natural gas (LNG) as a low-carbon fuel. Although economic evaluations indicate the transportation of LNG as a convenient solution for long distances between markets and reservoirs, several concerns are still present regarding its safe use and transportation. The preliminary evaluations performed in this work indicate that credible releases deriving from real bunkering operations result in pools having a diameter smaller than 1 m, which has been poorly investigated so far. Hence, an experimental campaign devoted to the characterization of a medium-scale release of LNG was carried out either in the presence or absence of an ignition source. An evaporation rate of 0.005 kg s−1 m−2 was collected for the non-reactive scenario, whereas the measured burning rate was 0.100 kg s−1 m−2. The reduction factor of 20 demonstrates the inaccuracy in the commonly adopted assumption of equality between these values for the LNG pool. Flame morphology was characterized quantitatively and qualitatively, showing a maximum ratio between flame height and flame diameter equal to 2.5 and temperatures up to 1100 K in the proximity of the flame.","PeriodicalId":36395,"journal":{"name":"Fire-Switzerland","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2023-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48510063","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Comment on Laming et al. The Curse of Conservation: Empirical Evidence Demonstrating That Changes in Land-Use Legislation Drove Catastrophic Bushfires in Southeast Australia. Fire 2022, 5, 175","authors":"M. Feller","doi":"10.3390/fire6070260","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/fire6070260","url":null,"abstract":"Laming et al. [...]","PeriodicalId":36395,"journal":{"name":"Fire-Switzerland","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2023-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41927495","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A Prediction Model for Smoke Spread Path in High Rise Building Fires Based on Graph Theory","authors":"Haoyou Zhao, Zhaoyang Yu, Jinpeng Zhu","doi":"10.3390/fire6070258","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/fire6070258","url":null,"abstract":"To satisfy the demand for rapid prediction of smoke transmission paths in high-rise building fires, a graph-based model was developed. The model represents a high-rise building as a Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) grid model and employs computer simulation to determine the smoke transmission path and generate prediction results. The results were compared with those from similar simulations and were found to be consistent, indicating the feasibility and objective nature of the prediction results. Compared to other methods, this model has a shorter modeling time and can quickly provide prediction results. Furthermore, it can be applied to buildings of any structure, thus serving as a reference for smoke control design in high-rise building fire protection systems, particularly in cases involving complex internal structures.","PeriodicalId":36395,"journal":{"name":"Fire-Switzerland","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2023-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43119609","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Iacopo Bassi, Francesca Delchiaro, Claudia Bandinelli, L. Mazzocchetti, E. Salatelli, Gianluca Sarti
{"title":"A New Perspective on Hydrogen Chloride Scavenging at High Temperatures for Reducing the Smoke Acidity of PVC Cables in Fires, IV: The Impact of Acid Scavengers at High Temperatures on Flame Retardance and Smoke Emission","authors":"Iacopo Bassi, Francesca Delchiaro, Claudia Bandinelli, L. Mazzocchetti, E. Salatelli, Gianluca Sarti","doi":"10.3390/fire6070259","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/fire6070259","url":null,"abstract":"In PVC compounds, hydrogen chloride plays a fundamental role in ·H and ·OH radical trapping, lowering the flame energy during combustion. Furthermore, it yields actual Lewis acids promoting the cross-linking of the polyene sequences from PVC degradation and bringing a char layer, protecting PVC items from flames. Therefore, PVC is inherently flame-retarded. However, plasticized PVC requires flame retardants and smoke suppressants to enhance fire performance. Low-smoke acidity PVC compounds have been developed to reduce the HCl emission during combustion and, therefore, the acidity of the smoke. They contain potent acid scavengers capable of acting at high temperatures. They react with hydrogen chloride in the condensed phase, making it unavailable in the gas and even in the condensed phase, compromising the reaction to fire and enhancing the smoke produced during the combustion. The effect of the sequestration of hydrogen chloride in PVC compounds for cables by potent acid scavengers is studied in this paper through measurements of oxygen index, heat release, and smoke production. It is noteworthy that the potent acid scavengers strongly affect parameters such as the oxygen index, the fire growth rate in cone calorimetry, the specific (total) heat capacity, and the specific heat of combustion of fuel gases in micro combustion calorimetry. In some formulations, acid scavengers reduce the oxygen index below the values of the formulations without flame retardants and double their fire growth rate. In fact, they neutralize the action of antimony trioxide and Lewis acid precursors commonly used as flame retardants and smoke suppressants in PVC items, making them prone to ignite, release smoke, and spread flame. A new generation of flame retardants and smoke suppressants is needed to keep together the low-smoke acidity and the fire performance in PVC items.","PeriodicalId":36395,"journal":{"name":"Fire-Switzerland","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2023-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45024712","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}