Experimental Study of Fire Propagation in Shamianas: Bachelor of Technology Mechanical Engineering by

Experimental study of fire propagation in Shamianas
A report submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the award of

degree of
Bachelor of Technology
in
Mechanical Engineering
by
Kasturi Behera (2008ME10512)
Apoorva Pandey (2008ME10496)
under the supervision of

Prof. Sunil R.Kale Prof. Anjan Ray
Mechanical Engineering Department

Indian Institute of Technology Delhi
May, 2012
1
Contents
Abstract 4
Acknowledgements 5
Nomenclature 6
List of Figures 7
List of Tables 8
1. Introduction 9
1.1 Motivation 9
1.2 Objectives 10
2. Background 12
2.1 Literature Review 12
2.2 Prior Art 14
3. Methodology 18
4. Survey of tents 19
4.1 Visit to Pandals in Chitaranjan Park 19
4.2 Study of shamiana structure in lIT 21
4.3 Material used for tents 21
4.4 Design and construction 21
4.5 Sources of Ignition 21
5. Experimental Work 22
5.1 Test Matrix . 22
5.2 Rig Setup 23
5.3 Experimental Procedure 27
5.4 Fabric Properties 28
5.5 Results and Discussion 29
6. Conclusions 46
References 48
Appendices 49
2
CERTIFICATE
The work presented in this report has been carried out by us for the course MED41 1. The
report accurately reflects the work done by us. All the material taken from other sources has
been fully acknowledged.

(Kasturi Behera, 2008ME10512) (Apoorva Pandey, 2008ME10496)
Apoorva Pandey and Kasturi Behera have worked under my/etrr supervision. I/We have read
this report. It accurately reflects the work done by the students.
Prof. Sunil R. Kale
3
ABSTRACT
Tents (or shamianas) are temporary cloth structures, widely used as shelters for large outdoor
gatherings. In India, shamianas are extensively used, especially during weddings, festival and
religious celebrations. Electric lighting and fires for cooking/ritual purposes in shamianas
pose a huge fire hazard, and indeed there are frequent occurrences of fire in tents, at times
with disastrous consequences. For improved fire safety, it is imperative to understand the fire
dynamics at work. Thus motivated, this project aimed to establish the flame propagation
characteristics, in particular the mass loss rate, of fabrics commonly used in shamianas.
Experiments were conducted on single/multi layer square cloth panels in horizontal and
inclined orientations for different ignition source location. Video input, mass input and
temperature input were recorded and stored by a laptop. Textile properties were also
evaluated and correlated with certain • qualitative aspects of fabric flammability. Experiments
were also conducted on a scaled down model of tent to understand better the prominent
features of fire in an actual tent, which would also serve as a basis for future work.
Keywords
Sharnianas, fire dynamics, flame propagation, mass loss rate, ignition source, flammability
0
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We are extremely grateful to our supervisor Prof. S.R.Kale (Professor, Department of

Mechanical Engineering, IIT Delhi) for giving us this opportunity to work on this project.
This project would not have been possible without his valuable suggestions and constant
support. We thank him for providing all the facilities for doing the project and giving us time
to solve whatsoever difficulties we faced and encouraging and challenging us to meet our
objectives.
We are also thankful to our co-supervisor Prof. Anjan Ray (Professor, Department
of Mechanical Engineering, I.I.T. Delhi) for his guidance and suggestions.
We thank our Examiner Prof. Premachandran(Professor, Department of Mechanical

Engineering) for examining and giving contructive feedback every now and then
We thank Mr. P. S. Negi and Thermal Science Lab staff for providing all the necessary
facilities; we also thank the Mr.Rishi , staff of department computer lab and chemistry lab for
the same.
We would like to thank Akanksha Mathur, Ankita, PhD scholors, IIT Delhi and Mr. Mathur,
research scholar of Thermal Engineering group, for their valuable suggestions and helping us
in our experiments and set up.
We would also like to thank our friends Shruti, Raghav, Aditi for helping us in our
experiments and giving us moral support throughout our project. We would also thank our
family for giving us moral support and encouraging us at every point.
5
NOMENCLATURE
Epi ends per inch

Ppi picks per inch
LOI Limiting Oxygen Index
GSM Grams square metre
Shamiana Tent
Jhuggi Slum hut
Century (Thick) polyester
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1.1 Tent structure : steel columns and cloth panels

Figure 2.1 Test Chamber
Figure 2.2 Vertical Panel Support
Figure 2.3 Schematic diagram of weighing balance data acquisition
Figure 2.4 Flow chart of data transfer for thermocouple data
Figure 4.1: Durga Puja Pandal in C.R.Park
Figure 4.2: Pandal Entrance ,Wooden columns draped in polyester
Figure 4.3 Shamianas for food stalls
Figure 4.4: Shamiana structure in IIT
Figure 5.1: Aluminium frame for horizontal panels
Figure 5.2: Sheet for collecting ash and globules
Figure 5.3: 60 ° incline frame
Figure 5.4: 30 ° incline frame
Figure 5.5: Clamping of cloth panel on horizontal frame
Figure 5.6: Clamping of cloth on inclined frame
Figure 5.7: Positioning of camera
Figure 5.8: Flame propagation in cotton sample centre ignition
Figure 5.9: Graph of weighing balance data for cotton, sample centre ignition with time
Figure 5.10: Graph of weighing balance data for cotton, edge centre ignition with time
Figure 5.11: Flame propagation in of century with horizontal centre ignition
Figure 5.12: Graph of weighing balance data of century with horizontal centre ignition with
time
Figure 5.13: Experiments on 1, 2, 3 and 4 layer of georgette panels
Figure 5.14: Experiments on 10 layer of georgette panels
Figure 5.15: nichrome wire used for making wicks for ignition
Figure 5.16: flame propagation along weft direction
Figure 5.17: Warp and weft in a fabric
Figure 5.18: Flame propagation in 30 ° inclined panel with centre ignition
Figure 5.19: Graph of weighing balance data of 30 ° inclined panel with centre ignition with
time
Figure 5.20: Flame propagation in 30 ° inclined panel with bottom edge ignition
Figure 5.21: Graph of weighing balance data of 30 ° inclined panel with bottom edge ignition
with time
Figure 5.22: Flame propagation in 60 ° inclined panel with centre ignition
Figure 5.23: Graph of weighing balance data of 60 ° inclined panel with centre ignition with
time
Figure 5.24: Flame propagation in 60 ° inclined panel with bottom edge centre ignition
Figure 5.25: Graph of weighing balance data of 60 ° inclined panel with bottom edge ignition
with time
Figure 5.26: Still photographs of the tent scale model
Figure 5.27: Progressive burning of horizontal straw mat for sample centre ignition
Figure 5.28: Graph of weighing balance data for sample centre ignition of horizontal straw
mat with time .
7
LIST OF TABLES
Table 5.1: Test matrix for horizontal panel experiments

Table 5.2: Test matrix for 600 inclined panel experiments
Table 5.3: Test matrix for 300 inclined panel experiments
Table 5.4: Physical properties of fabrics
Table 5.5: Time taken for fabric to catch fire by ignition with nichrome wire and candle

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Experimental study of fire propagation in Shamianas

A report submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the award of

under the supervision of

Mechanical Engineering Department

Prof. Sunil R. Kale

We are extremely grateful to our supervisor Prof. S.R.Kale (Professor, Department of

We thank our Examiner Prof. Premachandran(Professor, Department of Mechanical

Epi ends per inch

Figure 1.1 Tent structure : steel columns and cloth panels

Table 5.1: Test matrix for horizontal panel experiments

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