Large-Scale Modeling of Fire Suppression with Water Sprays

Published

September 2, 2003

Author(s)

Kevin B. McGrattan

Abstract

The mechanisms underlying fire suppression by water can bedivided into gas and solid phase phenomena. Numerical models ofthese phenomena are dependent on the level of detail given to thecombustion and the fuel pyrolysis processes.Presently, models of gas phasesuppression are limited by the use of simple zero or one-stepcombustion mechanisms in large-scale simulations. Detailed numericalmodels of small-scale combustion systems exist, but these modelsare hard to apply at room or building scale.Models of solid phase suppression are limited by the lackof well-accepted, robust pyrolysis models that have enough physicaldetail to accommodate the inclusion of water impingement. Severallumped parameter models of solid phase suppression by water havebeen developed over the past decade, but these models do notnecessarily work well within a CFD model framework.The challenge to themodeler is to inject more physics into the solid phase suppressionmodels and to simplify the physics of the gas phase to bring thetwo parts of the problem into the same conceptual framework.

Citation

National Research Council Workshop to Foster Improved Fire Safety

Pub Type

Journals

Keywords

computational fluid dynamics, fire modeling, suppression

Citation

McGrattan, K. (2003), Large-Scale Modeling of Fire Suppression with Water Sprays, National Research Council Workshop to Foster Improved Fire Safety (Accessed March 13, 2025)