Radiation transport in sooty pool fires: Measurement and analysis

The characterization of the heat transfer environment within a sooty pool fire has gained interest over the past few years due to the concern of transporting sensitive materials over large distances. Several investigators have shown that the heat transfer environment within a sooty pool fire is due predominantly to radiative transfer. This report summarizes some of the work performed by the authors on characterizing the radiation transport in a sooty pool fire. Radiative fluxes were measured and used to estimate the absorption coefficient in the sooty pool fire as well as the radiative field environment. Transpiration heat flux gages were modified to function in the severe environment that exists within the fire. These measurements, coupled with the techniques of nonlinear parameter estimation and the equation of radiative transfer yielded, mean absorption coefficients of 0.006/cm to 0.017/cm for the combustion of liquid JP-4 fuel