Criteria on the possibility of having flashover in a compartment fire were reviewed. The heat balance equation in the compartment was studied. The zone model CFAST 2.0 was applied to study the fire environment in a small compartment with a door of different area. Important parameters including the average upper and lower layer temperature, the smoke layer interface height, and the mass flow rates for intake air and outgoing smoke were calculated. Those pre dicted results were substituted back to the heat balance equation for determining the possibility of having flashover. The analysis shows that it is possible to deter mine the likelihood for flashover by using a well-validated zone model. From the heat-temperature curves derived, effect of the sprinkler can also be studied.
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