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CFAST: The Consolidated Model of Fire Growth and Smoke Transport.

Published

Author(s)

Richard D. Peacock, Glenn P. Forney, Paul A. Reneke, Walter W. Jones, R W. Portier

Abstract

CFAST is a zone model capable of predicting the environment in a multi-compartment structure subjected to a fire. It calculates the time evolving distribution of smoke and fire gases and the temperature throughout a building during a user-specified fire. This report describes the equations which constitute the model, the physical basis for these equations, data which are used by the model, and details of the operation of the computer program implementing the model. A set of comparisons between the model and a range of real-scale fire experiments is presented. In general, the CFAST model compares favorably with the experiments examined in this paper. Although differences between the model and the experiments were clear, they can be explained by limitations of the model and of the experiments. This paper documents the equations which are used in CFAST and how they are implemented. The means by which one can add new phenomena is detailed, as are the variables and structure of the model
Citation
Technical Note (NIST TN) - 1299
Report Number
1299

Keywords

CFAST, compartment fires, fire growth, predictive models, mathematical models, numerical models, room fires, toxicity

Citation

Peacock, R. , Forney, G. , Reneke, P. , Jones, W. and Portier, R. (1993), CFAST: The Consolidated Model of Fire Growth and Smoke Transport., Technical Note (NIST TN), National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD, [online], https://doi.org/10.6028/NIST.tn.1299 (Accessed March 28, 2024)
Created February 1, 1993, Updated June 2, 2021