Effectiveness of viscous hydrogel in extinguishing burning solid substances

Introduction. When extinguishing burning solids, the use of water due to its high consumption and low insulating capacity of water films is ineffective. As a result of using viscous hydrogels as a fire extinguishing liquid, its consumption is reduced and a hydrogel film is formed on the burning surface, which has a greater thickness and better insulating ability compared to water.

Aims and purposes. The aim of this study was to compare the effectiveness of using water and viscous hydrogels as a fire extinguishing liquid in the extinguishing of solid substances. The following tasks were solved: assessment of the impact of the concentration of gelling additives on the viscosity and evaporation of hydrogels; determination of the effect of viscosity of the fire extinguishing liquid film thickness and flow rate of liquid flowing from a vertical wall; a quantitative comparison of the effectiveness of fire suppression water, and various hydrogels according to their flow rate and film thickness.

Methods. The influence of the concentration of gel-forming additives on the viscosity and evaporation of hydrogels was analyzed. An expression is obtained for the viscosity of the “Firesorb” hydrogel depending on the concentration of the polymer additive. The dependences of the evaporated mass of the hydrogel “Firesorb” from time to time at different concentrations of polymer additives. Evaluate the effectiveness of the use of hydrogels in their consumption and the thickness of the hydrogel films. The dependence of the film thickness of the extinguishing liquid flowing from the vertical wall on its viscosity and density is obtained. The coefficient of efficiency of hydrogel use is proposed, which characterizes the efficiency of hydrogel by its consumption and the insulating ability of the hydrogel film by its thickness. The efficiency of using hydrogels of different viscosities in comparison with water is calculated.

Results and discussion. By changing the concentration of the gel-forming additive, you can vary the viscosity and evaporation of the hydrogel. The higher the viscosity of the hydrogel flowing from the vertical wall, the thicker the hydrogel film and less its consumption. Compared with water, the efficiency of using hydrogels is 2…4 times higher.

Conclusions. The results obtained during the study indicate that the use of viscous hydrogels is effective in extinguishing burning solids.

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