Experimental study on the flame height evolution of two adjacent fires under transverse air flow

Hydrocarbon energy storage has a wide range of applications in modern production and life. Regarded as an important form of energy dissipation, combustion plays an important role in energy storage failure. The possible ignition of adjacent leaked fuel might induce multiple fires burning simultaneous. The present work experimentally characterizes the flame evolution of two adjacent pool fires with square and line burners under transverse air flow. As for the effect of transverse air flow, the flame height evolution was recorded and measured involving six different transverse air flow speeds, as the transverse air flow speed increased up to 3 m/s, the flame height gradually decreased. When the transverse air flow increased from 3 to 3.7 m/s, the flame height only changed slightly on both types of burners. A new correlation was proposed that which correlates well the flame height as a function of the ratio of air entrainment caused by transverse air flow to that induced by the flame buoyancy itself in quiescent condition, including the fuel of heptane and ethanol, and the Froude number representing flame tilting caused by transverse air flow. The experimental data and proposed correlations in the present study provide an essential base for quantifying two adjacent pool fires characteristics under transverse air flow.