Full-scale Experimental study on the suppression effect of water sprinkler system on energy saving building fire

Abstract

In an energy saving building fire, the high temperature and pressure of the indoor smoke or flame break the window glass, and even forms ejecting fire that the flame spills out of the window. It is extremely dangers that the ejecting fire flame to the upper floor might contribute to the unpredicted hazard of the fire in energy saving building with amounts of insulation material. Therefore, the aim of this paper is proposing a method of protecting external windows based on the water sprinkler system. The system can suppress the spread of fire on the facade of the building, and prevent the formation of three-dimensional combustion of the building. This paper design and carried the two groups full-scale experiments to check the suppression effect of water spray system on the glass of the window under the different heat release rate (HRR) and thermal radiation from the fire. The conclusions describe the thermal radiation attenuation characteristics and temperature attenuation characteristics inside and outside the window. Consequently, we find that the sprinkler system can effectively protect the integrity of the glass and control the outdoor temperature within a safe range under the conditions of fire source power of 0.6 MW, 1.5 MW, and 3 MW. After the sprinkler system was turned on, the outdoor heat flux density rapidly decreased from a peak of 197 W/m2 and stabilized at 80 W/m2, which was 59% lower than the peak value. The research provides the deep insight into the temperature suppression phenomenon under the spray, and the protection method of ejecting fire for the external window is helpful to reduce the possibility of flashover in the indoor spray coverage. Due to the large range of heat release rates set in this paper, the experimental results provide a data reference for the fire protection design of future energy saving buildings.