Thermal behavior of window plume generated by fully developed compartment fires in single-skin and double-skin façade scenarios

Glass façade is gaining popularity in modern commercial buildings in recent several decades. The thermal stability of façade structural elements then becomes a great concern in building fire safety. To provide a guidance for glass façade fire protection, an experimental study on the vertical temperature distribution of window plume with apparent external flames was carried out. Experiments were performed by employing reduced-scale compartment façade models with a single wall and with double walls. A propane gas burner, installed at the center of the compartment floor, served as a fire source to simulate quasi-steady state room fires. When apparent external flames exist, the shapes of vertical temperature profile varied with both opening geometry and heat release rate (HRR). Empirical temperature models which considered the effect of volumetric heat release phenomenon was developed by employing mean flame heights as the characteristic length scales. The measured temperature profiles showed a three-phase distribution feature and were well correlated with the dimensionless vertical distance.