Application of multi-parametric characterization to water-based fire suppression systems in compartment fire scenarios

A new predictive fire suppression model has been developed and applied to a compartment room environment with various fire locations to clarify the suppression mechanisms of water mist and sprinkler systems. To effectively mitigate the combustion process, an in-depth framework has been developed, which includes the thermal fluidic interactions and utilizes statistical approaches for water droplets characterization. Efficiencies and effectiveness of both systems under different operating conditions were investigated with a multi-parametric approach that uniquely traces the accumulative mass fluxes, penetrability and number counts of droplets. Different fire suppression scenarios were identified based on combustion behaviors, and the suppression systems' performance was evaluated based on spray coverage, penetrability, water utilization rate and potential water damage. The current study finds that water mist systems significantly outperform sprinkler systems in suppressing centered fires from both time (within 0.55 s) and utilization rate (up to 6.78%) perspective, while sprinkler systems can effectively suppress fires within a larger area, but their water utilization rate is as low as 0.07%. For water mist systems, although the water utilization rate can be 37 times higher than sprinkler systems, their effective suppression coverage area is small, which provided directions for future improvement.