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Heat Transfer from Fires to Surfaces

  • Chapter
SFPE Handbook of Fire Protection Engineering

Abstract

The heat transfer from fires to adjacent surfaces is an important consideration in many fire analyses. Some example applications that may require knowledge of the heat transfer from a flame include heating and failure of structural beams, heat transfer through walls and ceilings, and the ignition and flame spread along combustible surfaces.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Virginia Tech, Mechanical Engineering, 635 Prices Fork Road, Goodwin Hall413C, Blacksburg, VA, 24060, USA

    Brian Y. Lattimer

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Aon Fire Protection Engineering, Greenbelt, MD, USA

    Morgan J. Hurley P.E., FSFPE (Editor-in-Chief) (Editor-in-Chief)

  2. Hughes Associates, Baltimore, USA

    Daniel Gottuk Ph.D., P.E.

  3. National Fire Protection Association, Quincy, USA

    John R. Hall Jr. Ph.D.

  4. Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan

    Kazunori Harada Dr. Eng.

  5. National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, USA

    Erica Kuligowski Ph.D.

  6. Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, USA

    Milosh Puchovsky P.E., FSFPE

  7. The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Australia

    José Torero Ph.D.

  8. The Fire Safety Institute, Quincy, USA

    John M. Watts Jr. Ph.D., FSFPE

  9. FM Global, Johnston, USA

    Christopher Wieczorek Ph.D.

Nomenclature, Greek Letters and Subscripts

a

spacing between parallel walls (m)

C p

specific heat capacity of air at 300 K (0.998 kJ/[kg-K])

d

length of single side on L-shape burner, length of line burner, width of burning area on corner wall (m)

D

length of single side of square burner, diameter (m)

g

acceleration of gravity (9.81 m/s2)

H

distance between fire and ceiling (m)

H B

distance between fire and lower flange of I-beam (m)

H C

distance between fire and upper flange of I-beam (m)

H o

height of room window (m)

h

convective heat transfer coefficient (kW/[m2 -K])

k

thermal conductivity (kW/m-K)

L B

flame tip length along lower flange of I-beam (m)

L C

flame tip length along upper flange of I-beam (m)

L web

flame tip length along center of web on I-beam (m)

L f

average flame length (m)

L f,tip

flame tip length (m)

L H

flame extension along ceiling away from stagnation point (m)

Q

fire heat release rate (kW)

Q′

fire heat release rate per unit width (kW/m)

Q*

dimensionless parameter, \( {Q}_D^{*}=\frac{Q}{\uprho_{\infty }{C}_p{T}_{\infty}\sqrt{g}{D}^{5/2}} \), with D being length scale

r

distance from corner or stagnation point to measurement location (m)

q″

heat flux (kW/m2)

T f

local gas temperature (K)

T g

room gas temperature (K)

T s

material surface temperature (K)

T ∞

ambient temperature (300 K)

W o

width of room window (m)

w

dimensionless distance along ceiling or I-beam, \( w=\left(r+{H}_B+{z}^{\prime}\right)/\left({L}_{HB}+{H}_B+{z}^{\prime}\right) \)

x

horizontal coordinate (m)

y

horizontal coordinate (m)

y′

distance from center of line burner, \( {y}^{\prime }=0.5d-y (m) \)

Z

burner height (m)

z

vertical coordinate (m)

z′

virtual source location (m)

ε

material surface emissivity (−)

ρ∞

ambient density of air (1.2 kg/m3)

π

constant (3.14159)

σ

Stefan-Boltzman constant \( \Big(5.67\times {10}^{-11} kW/\left[{m}^2-{K}^4\right]\Big) \)

cl

centerline

conv

convective

d

defined using d as length scale

D

defined using D as length scale

H

defined using H as length scale

hfg

heat flux gauge

B

defined using H B as length scale

C

defined using H C as length scale

web

defined using Hweb as length scale

inc

incident

m

measured

max

max level

net

net

peak

peak

rad

radiative

rr

reradiated

s

material surface

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Lattimer, B.Y. (2016). Heat Transfer from Fires to Surfaces. In: Hurley, M.J., et al. SFPE Handbook of Fire Protection Engineering. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-2565-0_25

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-2565-0_25

  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

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