Heat flux measurement pipe and method for determining sprinkler water delivery requirement

A test set up for measuring heat flux from a test material exposed to a flame comprising:

• a sample of the test material;
• means for providing a flame adjacent to said sample;
• a device for measuring heat flux from said sample, said device being adjacent to said sample and being impinged upon by the flame, the device including
• an elongate element defining a passageway for a fluid;
• and a plurality of temperature-sensing elements positioned along the passageway and within the elongate element, the temperature-sensing elements being spaced from one another longitudinally with respect to said passageway;
• and
• means for measuring the flow rate of said fluid through said device.

A method for measuring spatial heat flux distribution from a burning test material, comprising:

• orienting generally vertically at least one sample of test material;
• heating the sample with a flame;
• placing adjacent to the sample at least one unitary elongate device defining a flow passage for a flow of liquid and enclosing a plurality of temperature-sensing elements;
• and
• measuring the flow rate of liquid flowing through said device.

A method of determining a sprinkler water flow rate from at least one sprinkler required to control a fire comprising:

• measuring spatial heat flux distribution to a burning materal in a test fire;
• calculating the effective heat flux, q0, to the burning material (see FIG. 6);
• and
• calculating a sprinkler water delivery rate per unit exposed material area, {dot over (m)}″w=q0/L, required to absorb the heat transfer through the vaporization of water, wherein L is the heat required to vaporize a unit mass of water.