Researchers review state-of-art progresses on 'Regime I' fires

Prof. HU Longhua and his colleagues from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) recently published in Progress in Energy and Combustion Science an invited review on recent progresses and perspectives on “Regime I” fires, i.e., window-ejected fire plumes from under-ventilated compartment fires.

Statistics show that at least 74% of the population resides in the urban environment where the resulting fire risks are rising drastically owing to rapid population growth, vertical urban planning etc. Building fires with ejected flames and fire plumes, particularly when they ignite a combustible facade, may lead to heavy casualties and property losses. 

Hu et al. have been zeroing in on the physical processes and mechanisms of window-ejected fire plume dynamics for 15 years, conducting systematic research on its fundamental theory in three key aspects: the compartment fire evolution, flame interaction and merging behavior from two windows, and air entrainment mechanisms and characteristic parameters of window-ejected fire plumes.

The research team presents a comprehensive review of window-ejected fire plume dynamics theory and modeling under various external boundary and ambient conditions and also proposes more aspects to be further addressed, including wind direction, wind speed, and wind cooling effect.

Progress in Energy and Combustion Science, started in 1974, publishes review articles on all aspects of energy and combustion science, providing a comprehensive, in-depth overview of a particular topic. The past five decades saw only over 40 published articles whose first or corresponding authors were from Chinese institutes.