Compartment fires: challenges for fire modeling as a tool for safe design

Published

February 1, 2024

Author(s)

Tarek Beji, Talal Fateh, Jason Floyd, hugues Pretrel, Anthony Hamins

Abstract

The use of fire models to support fire protection engineering decisions requires an understanding of model shortcomings and assurance in their predictive robustness. This note is a summary of the online 'compartment fire' workshop that was organized prior to the International Association of Fire Safety Science (IAFSS) symposium, hosted online by the University of Waterloo (Canada) in April 2021. The objectives of the Workshop were to identify, discuss and prioritize key compartment fire modeling challenges. It is recognized that the huge changes in the built environment and the variety of subsequent fire dynamics problems necessitate significant advances in modelling, particularly with respect to (amongst other aspects) (i) under-ventilated fires (the prediction of soot and CO concentrations, extinction and reignition), (ii) heat transfer and the interaction with structural and non-structural elements, and (iii) the interaction with water-based fire suppression systems. High-quality and well-documented experimental tests play an essential role in fostering model development and validation; synergy between experimentalists and modelers is of the utmost importance.

Citation

Fire Safety Journal

Pub Type

Journals

Download Paper

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.firesaf.2024.104109

Local Download

Keywords

compartment fires, fire modeling, modeling challenges, model validation

Citation

Beji, T. , Fateh, T. , Floyd, J. , Pretrel, H. and Hamins, A. (2024), Compartment fires: challenges for fire modeling as a tool for safe design, Fire Safety Journal, [online], https://doi.org/10.1016/j.firesaf.2024.104109, https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=936912 (Accessed December 12, 2024)