New modeling of compartment fires and problem of flashover

A new model of compartment fires with liquid or thermoplastic fuels was proposed in which the new concept of the combustion efficiency based on the mixing process of the fuel gas and fresh air was considered. A simple one zone model was used in order to demonstrate the effect of the mixing process. Theoretical results were in good agreement with the experimental results of methanol and polymethyl methacrylate compartment fires, and especially the scale effect of the compartment was predicted successfully. Further, the whole aspect of the compartment fire behavior was presented, and the upper and lower limits of the discontinuous jump of burning rate were decided. In addition to these theoretical results, the experimental approach to the transient fire behavior was conducted to investigate the problem of flashover.