Determination of The Minimal Amount of Water for Effective Suppression of The Thermal Decomposition of Forest Combustible Materials

Abstract

Forest fires are big problem for whole the world community. The development of new effective methods is needed to increase the efficiency of the firefighting. We have investigated experimentally the suppression of thermal decomposition of different typical forest combustibles using water aerosol. Droplet sizes were 0.02-0.2mm; the concentration −3.8·10−5 m3 of water/m3, the flow rate −0.00035 l/s, flow velocity −2 m/s. Registration of the aerosol propagation and interaction with combustibles was done by high-speed video camera using Shadow Photography and Particle Tracking Velocimetry methods. The effective water volumes for fire suppression were determined together with corresponding suppression times. The obtained results could be used for improvement of the fire-fighting technologies.