A review of near-limit opposed fire spread

• Published in: Fire safety journal Vol. 120; p. 103141
• Main Authors: Huang, Xinyan, Gao, Jian
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Lausanne Elsevier Ltd 01-03-2021; Elsevier BV
• Subjects: Aerodynamics; Air flow; Chemical kinetics; Creeping flame spread; Environmental factors; Extinction; Fingering spread; Fluid dynamics; Glowing; Heat transfer; Hydrodynamics; Reaction kinetics; Smoldering; Creeping flame spread; Glowing; Extinction; Fingering spread; Smoldering
• ISSN: 0379-7112; 1873-7226
• DOI: 10.1016/j.firesaf.2020.103141

Creeping fire spread under opposed airflow is a classic fundamental fire research problem involving heat transfer, fluid dynamics, chemical kinetics, and is strongly dependent on environmental factors. Persistent research over the last 50 years has established a solid framework for different fire-spread processes, but new fire phenomena and recent developments continue to challenge our current understanding and inspire future research areas. In this review, we revisit the problem of opposed fire spread under limited and excessive oxygen supply. Various near-limit fire phenomena, as recently observed in flaming, smoldering, and glowing spread under various environment and fuel configurations, are reviewed in detail. Particularly, aspects of apparent importance, such as transition phenomena and heterogenous chemistry, in near-limit fire spread are highlighted, and valuable problems for future research are suggested.
•Opposed and concurrent fire spread phenomena are briefly summarized and compared.•Oxygen-limited opposed flame spread in microgravity and narrow channel are reviewed.•Near-extinction smoldering spread under various environments is summarized.•The transition from opposed flame spread to fuel regression is analyzed.•Glowing fire spread in-between flaming and smoldering is explored.