Research Article

Predicting HCl concentrations in fire enclosures using an HCl decay model coupled to a CFD-based fire field model

  1. Z. Wang,
  2. F. Jia,
  3. E. R. Galea†,*,
  4. M. K. Patel,
  5. J. Ewer

Article first published online: 14 DEC 2006

DOI: 10.1002/fam.942

Issue

Fire and Materials

Fire and Materials

Volume 31, Issue 7, pages 443–461, November 2007

Additional Information

How to Cite

Wang, Z., Jia, F., Galea, E. R., Patel, M. K. and Ewer, J. (2007), Predicting HCl concentrations in fire enclosures using an HCl decay model coupled to a CFD-based fire field model. Fire Mater., 31: 443–461. doi: 10.1002/fam.942

Author Information

  1. Fire Safety Engineering Group, School of Computing and Mathematical Sciences, University of Greenwich, U.K.

  1. †

    http://fseg.gre.ac.uk

*University of Greenwich, Old Royal Naval College, 30 Park Row, Greenwich, London SE10 9LS, U.K.

  1. †

    http://fseg.gre.ac.uk

Publication History

  1. Issue published online: 12 OCT 2007
  2. Article first published online: 14 DEC 2006
  3. Manuscript Accepted: 30 SEP 2006
  4. Manuscript Revised: 18 SEP 2006
  5. Manuscript Received: 7 MAR 2006

Funded by

  • University of Greenwich
  • UK CAA

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Keywords:

  • hydrogen chloride;
  • deposition;
  • compartment fires;
  • fire simulation;
  • CFD

Abstract

The amount of atmospheric hydrogen chloride (HCl) within fire enclosures produced from the combustion of chloride-based materials tends to decay as the fire effluent is transported through the enclosure due to mixing with fresh air and absorption by solids. This paper describes an HCl decay model, typically used in zone models, which has been modified and applied to a computational fluid dynamics (CFD)-based fire field model. While the modified model still makes use of some empirical formulations to represent the deposition mechanisms, these have been reduced from the original three to two through the use of the CFD framework. Furthermore, the effect of HCl flow to the wall surfaces on the time to reach equilibrium between HCl in the boundary layer and on wall surfaces is addressed by the modified model. Simulation results using the modified HCl decay model are compared with data from three experiments. The model is found to be able to reproduce the experimental trends and the predicted HCl levels are in good agreement with measured values. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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