Experimental study of small-scale thin-layer boilover suppression using salt additive

Abstract The boilover is a well-known disaster for tank fires. Previous study has shown that changing the boiling point of sub-layer can suppress the small-scale thin-layer boilover, but the detail of suppression mechanism is not claimed. Thus, this study conducted experiments using salt additive with various initial fuel thickness (10mm, 15mm, 20mm). The boilover process and temperature characteristics in liquid pool is discussed. The thermal structure within the liquid pool is figure out in this paper, and the temperature evolution in burning process is analyzed. The results show that the salt additive can change the boiling point of sub-layer and the thermal structure within the liquid pool, which is the main mechanism to suppress the boilover.