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Enclosure fires

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is fi lled with fuel molecules, contains too little oxygen for<br />

combustion to be able to take place. The fuel-rich atmosphere<br />

is therefore not self-combustible. Combustion takes place, instead,<br />

at the periphery, where the fuel and oxygen have diffused<br />

into each other. The reaction layer is the place where<br />

they are mixed in the right proportion with each other. Fuel<br />

and air are very well mixed in this thin layer.<br />

Diffusion fl ames are usually yellow, which is due to soot<br />

forming. Premixed fl ames do not have the same tendency. It<br />

should also be added that there are diffusion fl ames which do<br />

not produce so much soot. They are therefore similar to<br />

premixed fl ames.<br />

Diffusion fl ames differ in that combustion takes place at<br />

roughly the same rate as the fuel gas and oxygen from the air<br />

diffuse into each other. Diffusion fl ames result from a combustion<br />

process where fuel molecules are mixed with oxygen<br />

through laminar and/or turbulent mixing. This gives rise to<br />

laminar and turbulent diffusion fl ames respectively. Turbulence<br />

helps to speed up the mixing process.<br />

Laminar diffusion fl ames<br />

When a candle burns this produces a typical diffusion fl ame,<br />

where fuel and oxygen from the air fl ow side by side with each<br />

other at low velocity. They mix together laminarly and combustion<br />

occurs evenly in the reaction layer. If diffusion takes<br />

place slowly the oxygen and fuel need to be mixed for a long<br />

time to be able to burn. This is similar to how fi re can spread<br />

in buildings. A combustible mixture of fuel and oxygen can<br />

occur and ignite far away from the original fi re source.<br />

Turbulent diffusion fl ames<br />

The following example is based on a gas burner. If the speed of<br />

the fuel is increased the fl ame will gradually change from<br />

being laminar to turbulent. When the rate at which the fuel is<br />

fl owing out is higher than that at which it is mixing with the<br />

oxygen from the air, the mixing process occurs in whirls. This<br />

is known as turbulent mixing. In this instance too, mixing<br />

with oxygen occurs via diffusion, but the combustion process<br />

is uneven and irregular. Even though turbulence causes the<br />

All natural fl ames<br />

are actually<br />

diffusion fl ames, as<br />

they are dependent<br />

on diffusion. The<br />

type of fl ames<br />

which fi refi ghters<br />

mainly have to<br />

tackle are diffusion<br />

fl ames.<br />

51

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