Pool Fire Behavior and Emission Characteristics of Petroleum Fuels: Experimental and Multivariate Analysis

The behavior of petroleum pool fires has important implications for fire safety and environmental protection due to heat release, smoke generation, and pollutant emissions. In this study, controlled pool-fire experiments were conducted using representative petroleum fuels with multiple pan diameters to investigate the coupled effects of fuel properties and geometric scale on combustion behavior and emission characteristics. Key parameters, including the heat release rate, smoke production rate, mass loss rate, major gaseous emissions, and soot characteristics, were systematically measured. The results show that increasing pan diameter accelerated fire development, increased combustion intensity, and generally enhanced cumulative gaseous emissions. Compared with kerosene, gasoline exhibited more rapid combustion and higher smoke production, whereas kerosene produced a more sustained heat-release process and higher cumulative gaseous emissions. Correlation analysis, principal component analysis, and principal component regression revealed that fuel thermophysical properties and geometric scale are the dominant factors governing combustion behavior and pollutant formation. The proposed statistical framework provides a practical approach for quantitatively relating fuel properties to heat-release characteristics. These findings improve the understanding of the coupled effects of fuel composition and fire scale on petroleum pool-fire behavior and provide experimental support for fire hazard assessment and combustion modeling.