Large-scale experimental study on the spread and burning behavior of continuous liquid fuel spill fires on water

Large-scale experiments of n-heptane and gasoline continuous spill fires were conducted in an open area to study the spread and burning behavior of continuous liquid fuel spill fires on water. The fuel was ignited immediately after being released from an oil tank. Flame features and radiation flux were investigated with different discharge rates. It was observed that the spill fire undergoes three phases including fire growth and fuel spread, steady burning, and the transition to extinction. Data indicate that the discharge rate largely governs the spill fire characteristics. The maximum value of pool fire size, flame height, fuel spread rate, time average burning rate, and thermal flux all increase with the discharge rate. The facilities and data presented in this work may provide a basis for the future modeling study and the prediction of the possible secondary disaster induced by liquid fuel spill fires.