LAUSR

In a compartment fire, the plume temperatures and velocities are important parameters which are to be investigated. A proper understanding of behavior and temperature of the flame helps fire engineers and researchers deal with the fire situation. A series of four full scale steady state fire experiments were performed in a fire compartment of dimension 4 m × 4 m in plan and 4 m in height to study the vertical temperature profile of a flame. A pure grade of propane gas was supplied to a square burner of size 0.17 m × 0.17 m to create a steady state fire. The centerline vertical temperature rise of the buoyant plume was measured at seventeen different locations with the help of K-type thermocouples and was compared with several correlations available in the literature. The centerline velocities of buoyant plume were also measured and compared with various plume models. The prediction of Alpert (Fire Technol 8:181–195, [11]) and Cox and Chitty (Combust Flame 39:191–209 [10]) model of plume temperature rise and centerline velocities were found to be closer to that of experimental values.