Some measurements of fire turbulence

It is important to be able to predict the rate of smoke and fire spread in buildings in order to optimize the design of escape routes and the siting of detectors and sprinklers. The available mathermatical procedures based on turbulence models require experimental guidance. This paper describes the measurement of some turbulence parameters in smoke and flame plumes moving under a ceiling. Time correlation techniques are applied to signals obtained from thermocouple and Langmuir probes. Space‐time correlations in the hot layer show similar trends to those in decaying isotropic turulence from wind tunnels but superimposed upon a coherent sine wave produced by vortex shedding at the fire. Data are also presented of the probability of chemical reaction at several locations in the hot layer.