Characterization of flow field within the liquid phase of a small pool fire using particle image velocimetry technique

• The flow field within the liquid phase of a small pool fire is measured.
• 2D particle image velocimetry technique is employed.
• Sources of uncertainty and experimental issues are discussed.

Two-dimensional particle image velocimetry (PIV) technique is employed to measure the velocity field at the central cross-sectional plane within a round laboratory-scale liquid pool fire (90 mm diameter with 18 mm depth) burning under steady-state and quiescent environment conditions. The experimental technique and the results for the flow field within the liquid phase of pool are presented and their consistencies are discussed. It is shown that the experimental technique used in this study is capable to effectively characterize the flow and can provide useful information about fluid dynamics of the liquid phase of pool fire. The measured fluid velocity field depict that the upper region of the liquid pool is dominated by a pair of counter-rotating vortices while no fluid circulation is observed within the lower region of the pool where the flow velocity is uniformly low in value. Also, by decreasing the temperature at the bottom of the pool, the size of vortices and the ratio of the upper to lower layer thicknesses decrease. The sources of uncertainties associated with the experimental method (PIV) for this specific application are fully discussed to help in the design of similar experimental systems.