A Sprinkler Fire Suppression Algorithm

A study was conducted to develop a sprinkler fire suppression algorithm for use with sprinkler activation time models. Large-scale experiments were performed to determine the heat release rate (HRR) of selected office fuel packages with and without sprinklers operating. Eight different fuel packages were evaluated. The results from these experiments were used to develop a time dependent HRR reduction factor.The sprinkler fire suppression algorithm consists of multiplying the HRR reduction factor by the HRR at the time of sprinkler activation, Qact, yielding an expected upper bound to the HRR at a given time after sprinkler activation, Q( t), for office furnishing fires that are not heavily shielded.This sprinkler fire suppression algorithm can be thought of as a "zeroth order" fire suppression model for "light hazard" occupancies with a sprinkler spray density of 0.07 mm/s (0.1 gpm/ft2) or greater.