The Malveira fire test: Full-scale demonstration of fire modes in open-plan compartments

• Published in: Fire safety journal Vol. 108; p. 102827
• Main Authors: Hidalgo, Juan P., Goode, Tristan, Gupta, Vinny, Cowlard, Adam, Abecassis-Empis, Cecilia, Maclean, Jamie, Bartlett, Alastair I., Maluk, Cristián, Montalvá, José M., Osorio, Andrés F., Torero, José L.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Lausanne Elsevier Ltd 01-09-2019; Elsevier BV
• Subjects: Building design; Burnout; Compartment fire framework; Compartments; Enclosure fire dynamics; Energy distribution; Fire tests; Floorplans; Fluid dynamics; Fluid mechanics; Fuels; Heat flux; Industrial buildings; Instrumentation; Large-scale experiments; Tall buildings; Compartment fire framework; Enclosure fire dynamics; Tall buildings; Large-scale experiments
• ISSN: 0379-7112; 1873-7226
• DOI: 10.1016/j.firesaf.2019.102827

This paper characterises the fire dynamics in the Large-Scale Demonstrator Malveira Fire Test, a full-scale fire experiment carried out in an industrial building in Portugal. The Malveira Fire Test is the second stage in the series of full-scale experimental programmes developed for the Real Fires for the Safe Design of Tall Buildings project at the University of Edinburgh. This experiment focuses on the fire dynamics in large open floor plan compartments. Results from this test provide relevant data for defining design fire input methodologies applied to compartments typically found in tall buildings.
The test showed three distinct fire behaviour modes characterised by the ratio between the velocities of the fire front (Vs) and the burnout front (VBO); a travelling fire mode with Vs/VBO≈1, a growing fire mode with Vs/VBO>1 and a fully-developed fire mode with Vs/VBO→∞. The three modes are correlated to the incident heat flux onto the fuel surface arising from the resulting compartment energy distribution. The energy distribution depends on the compartment characteristics, the fuel distribution and the resulting fluid mechanics. A description of the instrumentation and analysis of results are presented to support a theoretical justification for the transitions between fire modes.
•Large-scale fire test in an open-plan compartment in a real building.•High sensor density measuring burning rates, temperatures, heat fluxes, and opening flows.•Demonstration of three distinct fire modes and the transition between them.•Transition between a travelling fire, a growing fire and a fully-developed fire.•Fire mode transition correlated to heat feedback to fuel and energy redistribution.