Temperature Distribution Characteristics of Steel Circular Tube Members under Oil Pool Fire Conditions: Experiment and Numerical Simulation

In this work, the temperature response characteristics of thin-walled and large aspect ratio steel tubes under oil pool fire load conditions were studied. In order to obtain a reliable temperature distribution value, combustion tests were carried out in parallel with a numerical simulation study on Q345B steel circular tube members with the wall thickness of 5 mm. The circular tubes were tested under the thermal conditions which were induced by oil pool fire with the fuel of aviation kerosene in pan. Temperature versus time curves of the tube outer wall at different points were tested by integrated armored thermocouples, and a FLUKE (R) infrared thermal imager was used to record the surface temperature cloud map of the steel tube. ANSYS/FLUENT codes were used to model the heat transfer mechanism and the numerical results were in good agreement with the experimental results. The characteristics and rules of temperature responses of steel circular tube members under different fire source locations were analyzed. The results indicated that there exists a great non-uniform distribution of temperature in the radial direction of the tube member. The results of this study will provide further support for the prediction of the temperature response and mechanical behaviors of steel circular tube members s related to oil pool fire.