Abstract
Gasoline has high inflammability and combustibility. Therefore, when gasoline is spilled on a floor, it may form a great flame and cause a big fire. In this case, it is thought that the spill area influences the flame height.
In this study, the authors carried out combustion tests of gasoline and kerosene spilt on a wooden floor coated with a galvanized iron sheet. Liquid fuel was spilled in a circle surrounded by a clay fence. The spill area was determined by changing the radius of the fence. We placed heat flux meters in and around the flame and measured heat flux and radiation heat from the flame. We measured the temperature of the flame by using K-type thermocouples. The flame behavior was recorded on video and mean flame height was measured. Furthermore, we measured the weight loss rate of gasoline and obtained the heat release rate.
Conclusions are as follows:
(1) When the radius of the spill area was 0.8 m, the mean flame tip height reached 4.7 m. The flame height was higher as the spill area increased in size, but the quantity of the gasoline spill was not a factor.
(2) The mean flame tip height was calculated using the heat release rate measured in the combustion tests. The calculated value agreed approximately with the experimental value.
(3) When the radius of the spill area was 0.8 m, a high temperature region more than 400°C spread to a 3 m height from the floor and the average heat flux at 3.5 m height had the highest value of 74.7 kW/m2.
(4) The radiant heat at a distance of 50 cm from the apparent flame surface was so high, 20-30 kW/m2, it was found that there was ignitability to combustibles within this distance.
