300710 Assignment 1

Matthew Eyre (17337104)

Page 1 of 8

Question 1
Part a)
Zukowski correlation [1]:
Flame height = 0.23 x Qc^(2/5)
Qc = 0.7 Q
Flame height = 0.23 x (0.7 x Q)^(2/5)
Q = 0.841 x 0.595 x 678 = 339.3 kW
Flame height = 0.23 x (0.7 x 339.3)^(2/5)
Flame height = 0.23 x 8.92 = 2.05 m
Heskestad correlation [2]:
Flame height = 0.235 x Q^(2/5) 1.02 x D
D is the effective diameter of the fire. The effective diameter can be
calculated as D = sqrt(4 x A / pi) = sqrt (4 x 0.841 x 0.595 / 3.14) = sqrt
(0.637) = 0.80 m
Flame height = 0.235 x 339.3^(2/5) 1.02 x 0.8
Flame height = 2.42 0.816 = 1.60 m.

Part b)
The temperature is given by the following equation [3]:

The virtual origin is given by the folloowing equation [4]:

The virtual origin can be calculated as follows:

Zo = - 1.02 x 0.8 + 0.083 x 339.3^0.4 = -0.816 +0.853 = 0.038 m
(below zero)
It is assumed that: ambient temperature is 25C, gravity is 9.81 m/s,
density of air is 1.2 kg/m, thermal capacity of air is 1.0 kJ/KgK.
Therefore the temperature can be calculated as:

300710 Assignment 1

To
To
To
To
To

=
=
=
=
=

Matthew Eyre (17337104)

Page 2 of 8

9.1 x [ T / (g x cp2 x 2) ] 1/3 x Qc2/3 x (z - zo)-5/3

9.1 x [ 298 / (9.81 x 12 x 1.22) ] 1/3 x (0.7*339)2/3 x (5 - 0.038)-5/3
9.1 x [ 298 /14.126 ] 1/3 x (237.3)2/3 x (4.962)-5/3
9.1 x 2.763 x 38.33 x 0.06927
66.8 C

Temperature = To + ambient = 66.8 + 25 = 91.8 C = 364.89 K.

Part c)
The plume radius can be calculated as follows [5]:

bT = 0.12 x ( To / T)1/2 x (z zo)

bT = 0.12 x (364.89 / 298)1/2 x (5 0.038)
bT = 0.66 m
For an assumed guassian profile the plume radius T is calculated as
1.201 x the plum radius bT, and then the following equation can be used
[5]

plume radius where temperature rise is 0.368 centreline temperature can

be calculated as
T = 1.201 x bT
T = 1.201 x 0.66
T = 0.79 m
The temperature at the point 5 m above and 2 m from the centre of the
fire can be calculated as:
T = To x exp [- ( R / T ) 2 ]
= 66.8 x exp [- ( 2 / 0.79) 2 ]
= 0.11 K
T = 25 + 0.11
The temperature at the point 5 m above and 2 m horizontally out from the
centre of the fire is 25.11C, or 293.11 K.

300710 Assignment 1

Matthew Eyre (17337104)

Page 3 of 8

Question 2
Part a)
It is assumed the fire is not ventilation controlled, and is fuel controlled. It
is also assumed that 70% of the fire energy is lost as convected heat. The
following equation can be used to calculate the air entrainment [6].

Me = 0.23 x (4000 * 0.7)^1/3 x 2.5 ^ 2/3 x (6 + 1.5)

Me = 44.8 kg/s

Part b)
If the width was doubled the entrainment rate would increase by 59%.
This can be determined by the relation between window width and
entrainment rate, which is to the power 2/3. Therefore, if you double the
width, the entrainment will increase by a factor of 2^(2/3) = 1.59.
This is confirmed below:
Me = 0.23 x (4000 * 0.7)^1/3 x 5 ^ 2/3 x (6 + 1.5)
Me = 71 kg/s
71/44.8 = 1.58 = 58% increase. This is approximately 59% and the
difference can be attributed to rounding errors.

300710 Assignment 1

Matthew Eyre (17337104)

Page 4 of 8

Question 3
Part a)
The equivalent fire severity can be calculated as follows [7].

Kb is taken as 0.055, based on table 6.1 [8] for plasterboard finish.

The ventilation can be calculated as follows [9].

wf =
Av
Ah
Af
v

(6.0 / H) 0.3 x [ 0.62 + 90 x (0.4 - v) 4 / (1 + bv x h) ]

= area of vertical vents
= 3 x 2 x 0.95= 5.7 m2
= area of horizontal vents = 0 m
= floor area = 8 x 8 = 64 m
= Av / Af = 5.7 / 64 = 0.09

bv = 12.5 x (1 + 10 x v - v2)
bv = 12.5 x (1 + 10 x 0.09 0.092)
bv = 23.6
wf= (6.0 / 2.7)^0.3 x [ 0.62 + 90 x (0.4 0.09)^4 / (1 + 23.6 x 0.09) ]
wf= 1.84
The equivalent fire severity is then calculated as:
te
= er x kb x wf
= 500 x 0.055 x 1.84= 50.6 minutes

300710 Assignment 1

Matthew Eyre (17337104)

Page 5 of 8

The equivalent fire severity is calculated as being 50.6 minutes, therefore

the proposed FRL are acceptable.

Part b)
The design severity can be calculated as kh x ks x te where [10]:

ks
ted

= 1 + (N 2) / 10 = 1 + (7 2 ) / 10 = 1.5
= kh x ks x te= 0.5 x 1.5 x 50.6= 37.95 minutes

Therefore an appropriate FRL for the building would be 60 minutes, if the

building is sprinkler protected. Structural adequacy, integrity and
insulation rating should either be 60 or 0, depending on whether the
element is loadbearing or separating areas.

300710 Assignment 1

Matthew Eyre (17337104)

Page 6 of 8

Question 3
Part a)
The temperature of the steel can be calculated based on the methods
presented I the lecture notes [11]. This is a numerical based method that
estimates the increase in temperature of the steel beam based on the fire
temperature and finite time steps. A number of assumptions are made
including that the steel member is exposed on all sides, the conductivity is
extremely high (so there is no internal temperature gradient) and the
entire member is exposed to the same temperature.
Based on these the following equation is derived in the lecture notes
which can be used to numerically solve the problem.

Alpha is the combined radiative and convective heat transfer coefficient

and be calculated as follows:

The specific heat capacity of steel is given by the following equation:

The time step should be chosen such that:

Part b)
The framework can be implemented in a spread sheet, as in the attached
excel spread sheet.

300710 Assignment 1

Matthew Eyre (17337104)

Page 7 of 8

Part c)
The result it is takes 242.8 seconds for the steel to exceed 500C. A graph
of the result is also shown below. Further analysis, as shown in the
attached excel document, shows that the a time step of 1 second can be
considered reasonable to give the time to reach 500C to the closest
second, based on a time step sensitivity study that shows the time
converges to approximately 243 seconds.

Temperature of steel when exposed to fire

1000
800
600
Temperature (C)

400
200
0
0

200

400

600

800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800

Time (Seconds)
Steel temperature

Fire temperature

300710 Assignment 1

Matthew Eyre (17337104)

Page 8 of 8

References
[1] Equation 3, Page 7, 300710 Fire Engineering 2, Topic 1 and 2 Lecture
Notes, 2012, University of Western Sydney, Penrith.
[2] Equation 4, Page 7, 300710 Fire Engineering 2, Topic 1 and 2 Lecture
Notes, 2012, University of Western Sydney, Penrith.
[3] Equation 9, Page 9, 300710 Fire Engineering 2, Topic 1 and 2 Lecture
Notes, 2012, University of Western Sydney, Penrith.
[4] Equation 14, Page 11, 300710 Fire Engineering 2, Topic 1 and 2
Lecture Notes, 2012, University of Western Sydney, Penrith.
[5] Chapter 1, Section 2, SFPE Handbook of Fire Protection Engineering, 3rd Edition, the
National Fire Protection Association, Boston, 2002.
[6] Equation 35, Page 18, 300710 Fire Engineering 2, Topic 1 and 2
Lecture Notes, 2012, University of Western Sydney, Penrith.
[7] Equation not numbered, Page 29, 300710 Fire Engineering 2, Topic 1
and 2 Lecture Notes, 2012, University of Western Sydney, Penrith.
[8] Table 6.1, Page 30, 300710 Fire Engineering 2, Topic 1 and 2 Lecture
Notes, 2012, University of Western Sydney, Penrith.
[9] Equation 49, Page 30, 300710 Fire Engineering 2, Topic 1 and 2
Lecture Notes, 2012, University of Western Sydney, Penrith.
[10] Equations 52,53 and 54, Page 30, 300710 Fire Engineering 2, Topic
1 and 2 Lecture Notes, 2012, University of Western Sydney, Penrith.
[11] 300710 Fire Engineering 2, Topic 4 Lecture Notes, 2012, University
of Western Sydney, Penrith.