Verification and Validation of CFAST, A Model of Fire Growth and Smoke Spread

Published

February 19, 2017

Author(s)

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

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.This paper is an assessment of the model following the template set forth in ASTM 1355, Standard Guide for Evaluating the Predictive Capability of Deterministic Fire Models. We include in this paper a set of comparisons between the model and a range of real-scale fire experiments is presented as the validation exercise require by the standard. In addition, we have developed a means to do a quantitative comparison between the time series represented by these predictions and those found in experiments.

Citation

NIST Interagency/Internal Report (NISTIR) - 7080

Report Number

7080

NIST Pub Series

NIST Interagency/Internal Report (NISTIR)

Pub Type

NIST Pubs

Keywords

assessment, computer models, fire models, hazard assessment, validation, verification

Citation

Jones, W. , Peacock, R. , Forney, G. and Reneke, P. (2017), Verification and Validation of CFAST, A Model of Fire Growth and Smoke Spread, NIST Interagency/Internal Report (NISTIR), National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD (Accessed October 9, 2025)