Numerical study on the fire propagation and suppression of valve hall for UHV converter station

Abstract

In this study, a numerical technique has been used to analyze the fire propagation and its suppression within the valve hall (VH) for an ultra-high voltage (UHV) converter station. The full-size geometric model of the VH for the converter station and fire model was developed using the simulator. The process of fire propagation upon ignition was thoroughly analyzed with VT (valve tower) fire demonstrating the fastest growth with a growth coefficient of 0.08204. The ceiling impingement jet flow for vertical propagation was analyzed to determine the fire source locations. The temperature of VH tends to remain steady when the merging flame is created which was found to agree with the temperature distribution on VH as devised by Heskestad's model. Spray nozzle diameter, spray jet length, and volume flow rate (VFR) significantly influence the suppression performance. The suppression performance was found to be enhanced with an increasing VFR and subsequently deteriorated with an increasing diameter of the nozzle.

Keywords

• Valve towers fire
• Fire spread
• Temperature distribution
• Fire suppression performance