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Fire Dynamics and Forensic Analysis of Liquid Fuel Fires

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Fire Dynamics and Forensic Analysis of Liquid Fuel Fires The author(s) shown below used Federal funds provided by the U.S. Department of Justice and prepared the following final report: Document Title: Fire Dynamics and Forensic Analysis of Liquid Fuel Fires Author: Christopher L. Mealy, Matthew E. Benfer, Daniel T. Gottuk Document No.: 238704 Date Received: May 2012 Award Number: 2008-DN-BX-K168 This report has not been published by the U.S. Department of Justice. To provide better customer service, NCJRS has made this Federally- funded grant final report available electronically in addition to traditional paper copies. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. FIRE DYNAMICS AND FORENSIC ANALYSIS OF LIQUID FUEL FIRES Final Report Grant No. 2008-DN-BX-K168 Prepared by: Christopher L. Mealy, Matthew E. Benfer, and Daniel T. Gottuk Hughes Associates, Inc. 3610 Commerce Drive, Suite 817 Baltimore, MD 21227 Ph. 410-737-8677 FAX 410-737-8688 February 18, 2011 This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. ABSTRACT Liquid fuel spill/pool fires represent the initiating fire hazard in many applications ranging from accidents at industrial plants using combustible liquids to residential arson fires involving flammable fuels. Given the relevancy of such fires and broad range of potential scenarios, it is important to understand how liquid fuel fires develop and how to accurately calculate the fire size based on knowledge of the fuel type, quantity and the surface it is poured on. In addition, it is important to quantitatively correlate fire size to spill area and burn patterns. This understanding will afford the fire protection and investigation communities the ability to properly assess the potential hazards and forensically evaluate damage from fuel spill fire events. The purpose of this study is to expand the fundamental understanding of liquid fuel fire dynamics, establish the utility of forensic tools, and validate empirically-based correlations used to model spill fire scenarios. A multitude of small-, intermediate-, and large-scale non- combustible liquid spill and fuel spill fire tests were conducted using a total of six different liquid fuels and eight different substrates. The results of these tests provide insight into the differences in fire dynamics between pool and spill fires (i.e., thick and thin fuel depths), provide a methodology by which liquid fuel fire events can be assessed, and identify forensic indicators that can be used in the analysis of liquid fuel fire events. ii This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................................... ii EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ......................................................................................................... E-1 1.0 INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................. 1 1.1 Literature Review.................................................................................................... 2 1.1.1 Pool Fire Dynamics ..................................................................................... 2 1.1.2 Spill Dynamics ............................................................................................ 4 1.1.3 Spill Fire Dynamics .................................................................................... 8 1.1.4 Forensic Fire Pattern Analysis .................................................................... 9 1.2 Motivation ............................................................................................................. 11 1.2.1 Forensic Fire Investigation ....................................................................... 11 1.2.2 Industrial Fire Protection .......................................................................... 11 1.3 Objectives ............................................................................................................. 12 2.0 EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH...................................................................................... 12 2.1 Experimental Variables ......................................................................................... 13 2.1.1 Test Liquids .............................................................................................. 14 2.1.2 Spill Substrates.......................................................................................... 15 2.1.3 Fuel Quantities .......................................................................................... 18 2.1.4 Class A Sources ........................................................................................ 19 2.2 Naming Convention .............................................................................................. 20 2.3 Test Matrices ......................................................................................................... 21 3.0 EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN ............................................................................................ 21 3.1 Analytical Testing ................................................................................................. 22 3.2 Cone Calorimeter Experiments ............................................................................. 23 3.3 Pan Fires................................................................................................................ 24 3.4 Diked Fires ............................................................................................................ 29 3.5 Spill Dynamics ...................................................................................................... 31 3.6 Spill Fires .............................................................................................................. 33 3.7 Continuously Fed Spill Fires ................................................................................ 35 4.0 TEST PROCEDURES AND RESULTS .......................................................................... 37 4.1 Analytical Test Results ......................................................................................... 37 4.2 Cone Calorimeter Procedures and Results ............................................................ 40 4.3 Pan Fires................................................................................................................ 44 4.3.1 Pan Fire Procedure .................................................................................... 44 4.3.2 0.093 m2 (1 ft2) Pan Fire Results .............................................................. 44 4.3.3 0.372 m2 (4 ft2) Pan Fire Results .............................................................. 47 4.3.4 1.6 m2 (16 ft2) Pan Fire Results ................................................................ 50 4.4 Diked Fires ............................................................................................................ 53 4.4.1 Procedures ................................................................................................. 53 4.4.2 0.093 m2 (1 ft2) Diked Fire Results ........................................................... 54 4.4.3 0.37 m2 (4 ft2) Diked Fire Results ............................................................. 55 4.4.4 1.49 m2 (16 ft2) Diked Fire Results ........................................................... 58 4.5 Spill Dynamics ...................................................................................................... 60 4.5.1 Test Procedures ......................................................................................... 60 iii This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. 4.5.2 Results ....................................................................................................... 60 4.6 Spill Fire Dynamics .............................................................................................. 71 4.6.1 Test Procedures ......................................................................................... 71 4.6.2 Spill Fire Results ....................................................................................... 72 4.6.3 Coated Concrete Results ........................................................................... 78 4.6.4 Smooth Concrete Results .......................................................................... 87 4.6.5 Brushed Concrete Results ........................................................................
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