An Experimental Study of Automatic Water Cannon Systems for Fire Protection of Large Open Spaces

An experimental study is conducted to evaluate the performance of automatic water cannon systems for protecting fire hazards in large-open spaces. As part of this study, typical fire hazards encountered in large-open spaces are simulated to allow for a comparison of water cannon and automatic fire sprinkler protection. Tests are performed to characterize response time, water distribution and effectiveness of protection of the selected water cannon system. Results show that, in general, water cannon can respond to fire events in large-open spaces much faster than sprinklers. Under certain conditions, water cannon can also control and/or suppress the fire. However, further improvement of automatic water cannon technology is needed to optimize system performance for various commodity fires that may occur in large-open spaces.