Limiting lip-height of pool fires
File(s)
Published version
Author(s)
Kolstad, Einar A
Hagen, Bjarne Chr
Christensen, Kim
Krause, Ulrich
Frette, Vidar
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
The lip height at which an unsteady pool fire self-extinguishes, called the limiting lip-height is investigated.
Experiments have been conducted in 14 cylindrical containers with inner diameters from 2.5mm to 400mm
and heptane as fuel. The dimensionless limiting lip-height (limiting lip-height divided by the container
diameter) in unsteady pool fires increases from 2 for the smallest containers to almost 5 for the largest
container. The values are higher than for corresponding experiments with steady pool fires (cold containers).
The flame position and motion, laterally and vertically, are described. The fuel surface temperature increases
weakly with container diameter.
Pool fires during industrial accidents and laboratory experiments will, in most cases, evolve according to
an unsteady pool fire scheme with increasing lip height. For these situations, it is crucial to understand how
various factors influence the evolution of the pool fire. Consequently, results are reported here for a wide
range in container size
Experiments have been conducted in 14 cylindrical containers with inner diameters from 2.5mm to 400mm
and heptane as fuel. The dimensionless limiting lip-height (limiting lip-height divided by the container
diameter) in unsteady pool fires increases from 2 for the smallest containers to almost 5 for the largest
container. The values are higher than for corresponding experiments with steady pool fires (cold containers).
The flame position and motion, laterally and vertically, are described. The fuel surface temperature increases
weakly with container diameter.
Pool fires during industrial accidents and laboratory experiments will, in most cases, evolve according to
an unsteady pool fire scheme with increasing lip height. For these situations, it is crucial to understand how
various factors influence the evolution of the pool fire. Consequently, results are reported here for a wide
range in container size
Date Issued
2025-07-01
Date Acceptance
2025-03-29
Citation
Fire safety journal, 2025, 154
ISSN
0379-7112
Publisher
Elsevier
Journal / Book Title
Fire safety journal
Volume
154
Copyright Statement
© 2025 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ ).
License URL
Subjects
Engineering
Engineering, Civil
Lip height
Mass-loss rate
Materials Science
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
Pool fires
Science & Technology
Technology
Ullage
ULLAGE HEIGHT
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
104385
Date Publish Online
2025-04-10