Effects of water mist addition on kerosene pool fire

The use of water mist to extinguish fire is a problem of particular interest since the banning of halogen-based agents for environmental reasons. This interest is reflected in the large number of researches performed on the main fire-extinguishing mechanisms of water mist: heat extraction, oxygen displacement and attenuation of heat fluxes. In contrast, there are still little known about the chemical and some other aspects of water mist addition on the pool fire. In this paper, a phenomenological study was conducted of the effect of water mist addition on the kerosene pool fire through the measurement of the heat release rate, CO, CO₂ and O₂ species concentration in combustion. The experimental results show that there is a significant enhancement effect at the beginning stage of water mist addition. Then, the flame size was decreased abruptly. By physical suppression effect combined with chemical effect, the experiments’ results are explained especially. The study of effects of water mist on pool fire will be useful for optimizing designation of water mist fire-suppression system, improving the fire suppression efficiency and extending their application field. Supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (Grant No. 2001CB409600) and Opening Fund of State Key Laboratory of fire Science, University of Science and Technology of China (Grant No. HZ2006-KF10)