Experimental study on vertical spill fire characteristics of transformer oil under continuous spill condition

A vertical spill fire is one of the typical phenomena in fire scenes, which usually occurs with liquid fuel usage and storage and may pose a threat to process safety. In this study, a number of transformer oil continuous spill fire experiments were carried out on a steel experimental setup, in order to obtain the vertical spill fire characteristics of transformer oil or fuels that have similar properties as transformer oil. The flame shape, temperature and radiation data in the process of flame propagation were recorded. According to the change of the burning area, the formation and development process of a vertical spill fire can be divided into four stages. The relationship between burning area and fuel leakage rate in the quasi-stable combustion stage is analyzed and a prediction model for the burning area of a transformer oil vertical spill fire is established. The radiation model of a transformer oil vertical spill fire is established as a function of leakage rate. Based on heat transfer analysis, a mass burning rate model is derived and verified by experimental data.