A new cooling strategy concept based on water pulses for firefighters in post-fire scenarios

• Type: Article in International Scientific Journal
• Date: 2025-12-01

Authors

André Fonseca Malaquias (Author) FEUP; Campos, JBLM (Author) FEUP

Journal

Title: International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer

Vol. 169

Pages: 1-19

ISSN: 0735-1933

Publisher: Elsevier

Indexing

ISI Web of Knowledge - 0 Citations

Scopus - 0 Citations

Other information

Authenticus ID: P-01A-44A

DOI: 10.1016/j.icheatmasstransfer.2025.109697

Abstract (EN): Firefighters tend to be exposed to high temperature environments in fire mitigation operations. This affects their physiological parameters negatively. Heat hazards result from prolonged exposure to fires. To prevent such from happening, cooling methods are employed either between bouts or after the fire scene. In this work, a novel way to cool down the firefighter after a heat exposure is outlined. The method utilizes the concept of water pulse cooling, taking advantage of the latent heat and evaporative cooling. A numerical approach is utilized to simulate heat and mass transport in a typical 3 -layered firefighting garment along with a bio-heat model to simulate the presence of the firefighter. Exposure intensities of 5, 20 and 80 kW/m2 are considered. The fire protective clothing (FPC) is assumed to be sprayed with consecutive water pulses after the heat exposure. The effect of pulsing duration, number of pulses, and pulse amplitude on the skin temperature is analyzed. Also, the effect of delaying the initiation of pulsing is analyzed. It is shown that rapid cooling occurs for high pulsing duration (i.e. 300 s) and low water pulse quantities (10 % outer shell saturation level). Pulse delaying reduces peak skin temperatures during water pulsing.

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific

No. of pages: 19