U.s. Department of Commerce

A Computational Model of Dissipation of Oxygen from an Outward Leak of a Closed-circuit Breathing Device U.s. Department of Commerce

Closed-circuit breathing devices recycle exhaled air after scrubbing carbon dioxide and adding make-up oxygen from a tank of pure oxygen. Use of this equipment allows first responders to work for up to four hours without swapping out cylinders and scrubbing canisters. Firefighting situations in which these devices would be useful include tunnels, mines, ships, high-rise buildings, and environments contaminated with biological or chemical toxins. A risk perceived by firefighters entering environments containing open flame and high radiant heat is the possibility of fire ignition in the vicinity of the respirator caused by the outward leakage of oxygen around the facepiece. This paper presents the results of a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) study of oxygen dissipation into the environment surrounding a respirator facepiece.