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PUBLICATIONS

CFD Modeling of Fire

Published

Author(s)

Kevin B. McGrattan, Randall J. McDermott, Glenn P. Forney, Jason E. Floyd, Simo A. Hostikka, Howard R. Baum

Abstract

An overview of a methodology for simulating fires and other thermally-driven, low-speed flows is presented. The model employs a number of simplifications of the governing equations that allow for relatively fast simulations of practical fire scenarios. The hydrodynamic model consists of the low Mach number large-eddy simulation subgrid closure with either a constant or dynamic coefficient eddy diffusivity. Combustion is typically treated as a mixing-controlled, single-step reaction of fuel and oxygen. The radiation transport equation is written in terms of a spectrally-averaged gray gas. Applications of the model include the design of fire protection systems in buildings and the reconstruction of actual fires.
Citation
International Journal of Computational Fluid Dynamics
Pub Type
Journals

Download Paper

Local Download

Keywords

combustion, fire, large-eddy simulation, low Mach number approximation, lumped species, thermal radiation
Fire modeling

Citation

McGrattan, K. , McDermott, R. , Forney, G. , Floyd, J. , Hostikka, S. and Baum, H. (2012), CFD Modeling of Fire, International Journal of Computational Fluid Dynamics, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=909443 (Accessed October 10, 2025)

Issues

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Created January 11, 2012, Updated June 2, 2021
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