Pool fire burning characteristics and risks under wind-free conditions: State-of-the-art

Pool fire is a typical example of fire accidents in chemical process industries. Since fire researchers have implemented a variety of measurements to gain insights into pool fire and to prevent fire disasters, there is a need to illustrate how pool fire models influence the risk assessment results. This review intends to consecutively discuss the effect of different physical factors on the burning behavior of pool fire and fire risk assessment. For the most part, this review extracts representative works from abundant pool fire articles in the last years and is subdivided into mass burning rates, entrainment, flame height, pulsation, radiation transfer sections, and risk assessment. On the basis of the latest research, it is indicated that new fire models can provide more accurate and reliable assessment results than previous models. They are not only to reduce the cumbersome work and resources but also to validate computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models that are essential components of performance-based design in fire prevention. Consequently, providing the latest information about how pool fire evolves and how risk assessment is affected, this review paper would be advantageous to fire experts in the future.