Creation of a National Fire Facility at IIT Kanpur

Board of Research in Nuclear Sciences, Mumbai has recently approved the creation of a major facility at IIT Kanpur for a total cost of Rs 5 crores over a period of three years. A brief description of this initiative follows.

Title: DEVELOPMENT OF A TEST FACILITY FOR FIRE PROPAGATION AND ASSOCIATED THERMAL HYDRAULIC ASPECTS IN MULTIPLE COMPARTMENTS

Group members:
Dr. A. Kushari (Aerospace Engineering, PI), Dr. P. K. Panigrahi (Mechanical Engineering),
Dr. S. N. Tripathi (Civil Engineering), Dr. Debopam Das (Department of Aerospace Engineering)

Abstract:
Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) is involved in the design of an Advanced Heavy Water Reactor (AHWR) and carries out research and development work for Indian Pressurized Heavy Water Reactors (PHWRs). Several basic fire safety related information in the field of fire propagation, detection and suppression are required to be generated to ascertain the safe shutdown of reactor against the postulated fire. Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IITK) will set up a Test Facility for Fire Propagation and conduct associated studies related to thermal hydraulic aspects in multiple compartments in the facility.

The objective of the project is to understand the fire thermal hydraulics in multiple compartments configuration with ceiling opening and large vertical opening as found in various compartments within the containment of a nuclear power plant. Different combustibles at various locations will be considered in forced-ventilated, naturally-ventilated and unventilated situations. The key component of these studies will be an enhanced understanding of the buoyant turbulent fire induced thermal-hydraulics for known fire strength (generated by LPG/LNG burners). Attention will be focused away from the flaming region for combustion with known heat release rates. Experiments will also be carried out for fire detection, fire suppression, and evaluation of a few fire suppression techniques, along with large corridor experiments.