The flame behavior of engine fires, such as those caused by leaked fuel coming into contact with an ignition source, is significant in practical applications, where flame detection is used to minimize the damage of the attendant ship fire safety problem. In this work, the flame behavior of hot-surface ignition (HSI) under crossflow was studied, with a particular focus on the difference in lateral airflow velocities for HSI-driven flame deviations at the windward and leeward sides of a ship engine room; a problem such as this has not previously been quantified. Full-scale experiments were conducted in a ship engine room using marine diesel and hydraulic oil as the fuel, and by adopting lateral airflow with the velocities of 0 m/s, 1.0 m/s, 3.0 m/s, and 5.0 m/s, together with an HSI mechanism consisting of marine diesel and hydraulic oil coming into contact with elevated hot-surface temperatures. The results show that the effects of disturbing the combustible gaseous mixture for marine fuel HSI, at both the windward and leeward sides, strengthened as the airflow velocity increased. The HSI position of the leaked marine fuel in the engine room was strongly dependent on ventilation, while that under the airflow condition decreased with the increase in the hot-surface temperature. A model was proposed to characterize this difference on the basis of the HSI height, which was defined as the ratio of the height during the initial HSI to the stationary period. The results indicate that the scale of the flame gradually increased in the horizontal direction, which was significantly different from the result in the scenario without mechanical ventilation. The results also revealed that the fluctuation of hydraulic oil through the temperature field was significant and lasted for a long time under a low HSI temperature.

To extend initial ignition-related fire prevention in ship engine room, this work presents a case study of marine diesel leakage for identifying accidental ignition by hot surface. Based on a self-designed experimental platform, a full-scale innovative experimental arrangement was conducted for diesel leakage-related hot surface ignition (HSI) tests in a ship engine room. A series of parameters (e.g., heat transfer, evaporation mode, ignition position, ignition delay time, flame instability, and combustion behavior) for improving the initial HSI of diesel leakage on an edge-limited hot surface were analyzed. A transient sequence corresponding to a change in leakage flow rates ranging from 7.5 mL to 25 mL was tested, and hot surface temperatures (HSTs) were adjusted between 390 °C to 525 °C. Puffing motion accelerated the mixing of HSI-driven vapors with fresh air, which was affected by the edge-based limitation and HSTs. The case study identified the effects of hot surface shape and the most important combinations of HSI-driven combustion characteristics for estimating initial ignition responses. Based on this current work, prediction models were proposed for determining the HSI height of marine diesel for varying leakage flow rates and HSTs. The results indicate that HSI height increases with leakage flow rate and HSI position is influenced by edged hot surfaces, leading the vertical centerline to shift towards the side of the edge structure. The results also revealed that the ignition delay time of diesel leaked onto an edged hot surface decreases as leakage flow rate increases. This change causes the initial HSI to occur earlier, potentially creating an extra risk in ship engine rooms.

To ensure the safe protection of marine engine systems, it is necessary to explore the hot surface ignition (HSI) characteristics of marine diesel in ship environments. However, an accurate model describing these complex characteristics is still not available. In this work, a new experimental method is proposed in order to enhance prediction performance by integrating testing data of the characteristics of HSI of marine diesel. The sensitivity of HSI is determined by various factors such as surface parameters, flow state, and the ship’s environment. According to variations in the HSI status of marine diesel in an engine room, the HSI probability is distributed in three phases. It is essential to determine whether the presence of marine diesel or surrounding items can intensify the risk of an initial fire beginning in the engine room. A vapor plume model was developed to describe the relationship between HSI height and initial specific buoyancy flux in vertical space. Further, field distribution revealed significant variation in the increase in temperature between 200 and 300 mm of vertical height, indicating a region of initial HSI. In addition, increasing surface temperature did not result in a significant change in ignition delay time. After reaching a temperature of 773 K, the ignition delay time remained around 0.48 s, regardless of how much the hot surface temperature increased. This study reveals the HSI evolution of marine diesel in a ship engine room and develops data-based predictive models for evaluating the safety of HSI parameters during initial accident assessments. The results show that the goodness of fit of the predictive models reached above 0.964. On the basis of the predicted results, the HSI characteristics of marine diesel in engine rooms could be gleaned by actively determining the parameters of risk.