Use of immersed conductive objects to enhance the burning rate of hydrocarbon pool fires

• Published in: Cold regions science and technology Vol. 146; pp. 133 - 141
• Main Authors: Arsava, K.S., Mahnken, G., Rangwala, A.S.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 01.02.2018
• Subjects: Heat transfer; Nucleate boiling; Pool fire; Thermally conductive nonflammable objects; Thermally conductive nonflammable objects; Nucleate boiling; Pool fire; Heat transfer
• ISSN: 0165-232X; 1872-7441
• DOI: 10.1016/j.coldregions.2017.12.002

This study investigates the ability of thermally conductive nonflammable objects to enhance the steady state burning rate of hydrocarbon pool fires with the ultimate goal of designing a burner for faster clean-up of hazardous spills in offshore and other remote environments. In the initial set of small-scale experiments, a vertical 1cm diameter solid aluminum cylinder with varying lengths is placed centrally in a 10cm diameter pan fed with a continuous supply of hexane burning in quasi-steady state. The upper part of the cylinder, engulfed in the flame, heats up, and conducts heat to the lower submersed part, that transmits heat to the liquid below the pool surface. Tests reveal that the submersed lower part of the cylinder heats up sufficiently to sustain nucleate boiling, significantly increasing the burning rate, when compared to the baseline pool fire, where vaporization is achieved solely by radiative and convective heat transfer at the pool surface. The effects of cylinder length and multiple cylinders on burning rate are also characterized. To determine if the concept can also be applied to oil spill clean-up, a set of large scale tests is performed by burning crude oil/water mixtures in a 1-meter diameter pool. These tests show that burners with thermally conductive cylinders can be designed to effectively dispose of crude oil and oil/water mixtures. •The ability of thermally conductive nonflammable objects to enhance the burning rate of hydrocarbon liquid fuels is analyzed.•Both flame-object, and liquid-object interaction are investigated.•The mass burning rate of a pool fire can increase more than 600% depending on object placement and geometry.•The enhancement is mainly because of two phase flow (nucleate boiling) at the interface between the object and liquid.