Abstract
Aim: As the diameters of the droplets in a spray stream have a significant impact on the effectiveness of the extinguishing process, the main purpose of this work was to determine the distribution of water droplet diameters in the spray stream supplied from the Turbo Master 52 nozzle at various flow rates and spray angles and then analyse the impact of the latter parameter on this distribution.
Methodology: Three standard nozzle flow rates were used in the experiment – 200 dm3/min, 300 dm3/min and 400 dm3/min - and they were measured using an electromagnetic flow meter. The measurement of droplet diameters was carried out using an AWK probe manufactured by KAMIKA Instruments, which was connected to a droplet analyser communicating through a special card with a computer set. The installed specialised software from the same company not only allows you to read average volumetric droplet diameters, but also the time of measurement, the counted number of drops in the individual diameter intervals and the total number of counted drops. According to the manufacturer, the total measurement error does not exceed 2.5%. After the initial determination of the spraying ellipse, the position of the measuring points was determined for each case.
Results: The performed experiments allowed obtaining a set of average droplet diameters at the designated measuring points for different flow rates and spray angles. In order to compare the obtained results and to evaluate them, several parameters, such as the overall average diameter of all droplets, uneven spraying indicator, and the indicator of deviation from the optimum diameter were defined. The dependences of these parameters on the flow rate of the nozzle were presented in tabular and graphical forms.
Conclusions: Based on the performed experiments, information on the impact of the flow rate of the nozzle on the average volume diameter of spray droplets and the values of the indicators of deviation from the optimal diameter and uneven spraying were obtained. This allows us to select the appropriate flow rate of the nozzle at a given tilt angle and spray angle, which will be the most effective for firefighting. It corresponds to the lowest values of both indicators.
Keywords: fire extinguishing, spray, water nozzle, water stream, water-droplet diameter, sprinkling intensity, sprinkling area
Type of article: short scientific report