Phenomenological description of actual electrical cabinet

fires in a free atmosphere

(M. Coutin, P. Guillou)
The study of electrical cabinet fires is a major concern for fire safety in the industry and particularly for safety at nuclear facilities. The lack of
published data and the difficulty of transposing such results to concrete cases led AREVA NC and IRSN to establish a program on actual electrical
cabinet fires. The PICSEL_A program is the first part of this research program. It aims at characterizing a set of electrical cabinet fire sources placed
beneath an exhaust hood in a large, naturally ventilated, enclosure. In order to study the fire source, three main parameters are investigated:
the heat release rate of the fire, the incident radiant heat flux density in front of the electrical cabinet, and the mass flow rate of soot produced.

Fire development scenario

Only 2 to 11% of the combustible load is consumed during the closed-doors cabinet fire while the whole combustible load is consumed for the
open-doors cabinet fire.

Closed-doors cabinet fires (PXA.2.1 & PXA.2.2 tests)

Open-doors cabinet fires (PXA.3.1 & PXA.3.2 tests)

Heat release rate and phenomenological

description of the fire

Incident radiant heat flux from the electrical

cabinet

Fire development in the open-doors cabinet can be divided into

3 characteristic stages: an incubation stage, a faster growth stage and
a decay stage. For the closed-doors cabinet, the faster growth stage is
not observed because the flashover found at 100kW is never reached.

A relation between the radiant heat flux from electrical cabinet fires
and the cabinet-target distance is investigated based on changes
in flame shape during the fire and measurements recorded by
5 radiometers. A simplified approach, based on the heat transfer
equations, gives:
[1]

Fire extinction for the open-doors cabinet is due to the lack of fuel,
while the supply of oxygen leads to the combustion of the closed-door
cabinet (fire extinction occurs probably because the upper ventilation
opening grids are plugged by deposits of combustion products during
the fire).

Calculated flux from [1] is consistent with measured flux, particularly

when the fire is fully developed.

Flame shape for the stationary

and fully developed fire

HRR variations for the

open-doors cabinet fires.

Soot production
Soot production rate is higher
for the closed-doors cabinet
fires than for the cabinet fires
with the doors open.

An isoflux map is drawn up using [1] when the open-doors cabinet fire is
fully developed. This was done to estimate the limit values of thermal
stresses on equipment placed in the vicinity of the cabinet fire.

HRR variations for the

closed-doors cabinet fires.
.

Cabinet
configuration

Isoflux map for the limit

values calculations

ms

ms

s
%

Test

g.s-1

Open doors

PXA.3.1
PXA.3.2

1.18
1.14

657
837

1.49
1.93

Closed doors

PXA.2.1
PXA.2.2

0.14
0.04

134
29

2.67
2.89

M. Coutin, P. Guillou - IRSN

BP 3 - 13115 Saint Paul Lez Durance Cedex, France
Phone : + 33 (0)4 42 19 95 16
Phone : + 33 (0)4 42 19 94 80
E-mail : pascal.guillou@irsn.fr E-mail : mickael.coutin@irsn.fr