TOWARDS DEVELOPMENT OF A SPATIALLY-RESOLVED SPRAY SCANNING SYSTEM

Abstract

Fire sprinkler manufacturers have developed a plethora of application specific sprinkler designs. Advances in product development practices, performance based design, and fire suppression research have increased stakeholder interest in quantifying the spray produced by these devices. A Spatially-resolved Spray Scanning System (4S) has been developed to capture the complete patio-stochastic nature of the droplets, which form sprinkler dependent spray patterns, at their point of origin. The 4S synthesizes spray measurements, transport analysis, and statistical representation frameworks providing high-fidelity spray characteristics suitable for evaluating both fire sprinkler and fire protection system performance. Terabyte scale data densities of 4S measurements present remarkable challenges with regard to data management, test repeatability, and test timing. These challenges are addressed through integration of automation, flow control, data acquisition and data analysis systems. Spatially-resolved sprinkler spray measurements are presented providing insight into the sprinkler spray patterns and their connection with deflector geometry, dispersion modeling, research and development.