Water Mist for Ship Machinery Spaces

Abstract

Fires in naval vessels may lead to a loss of capability, function, life and in extreme situations, the loss of the vessel. Machinery space fires are a particular concern because of the availability of fuel and ignition sources. Suppressant systems employed in the machinery spaces of RAN vessels must have the cpability to extinguish fires that result from ignition of these fuels. The fuel properties that affect extinguishing behaviour are examined in this paper and the suitability of water mist as the extinguishant of choice for these fuels examined. Extinguishing tests have shown that water mist systems are capable of extinguishing Class B fires and were successful in extinguishing fires of fuels with flash points from 60 deg C (diesel) to -4 deg C (heptane). Water mist is also able to thermally manage compartment termperatures improving habitability and reducing the risk of fire spread.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Apr 01, 2006
Accession Number
ADA455358

Entities

People

  • Ian Burch

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • Ground and Sea Platforms
  • Human Systems
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Chemistry
  • Combustion
  • Computational Fluid Dynamics
  • Diesel Fuels
  • Fire Protection
  • Fire Safety
  • Flash Point
  • Fluid Dynamics
  • Fuels
  • Halogenated Hydrocarbons
  • Heat Energy
  • Heat Of Vaporization
  • Heat Transfer
  • Materials
  • Materials Science
  • Naval Vessels
  • Otto Fuels

Readers

  • Fire Suppression Systems Design.
  • Petroleum Engineering

Technology Areas

  • Space
  • Space - Hall-Effect Thruster