Comparison of CFAST Predictions to Real Scale Fire Tests.
Comparison of CFAST Predictions to Real Scale Fire
Tests.
(949 K)
Jones, W. W.; Bailey, J. L.; Tatem, P. A.; Forney, G. P.
Paper 25;
Institut de Securite. Fire Safety Conference on
Performance Based Concepts. Proceedings. October
15-17, 1996, Zurich, Switzerland, 25/1-14 pp, 1996.
Keywords:
fire safety; fire codes; building codes; standards; fire
tests; computer models; fire behavior; fire models; zone
models; equations; predictive models; experiments;
instruments
Abstract:
This paper describes a new algorithm of the Consolidated
Fire Growth and Smoke Transport (CFAST) fire model and
compares to data from real scale fire tests conducted
onboard the ex-USS SHADWELL, the Navy's R&D Damage
Control Platform. The new phenomenon modeled in this
work is the conduction of heat in the vertical
direction. The SHADWELL tests chosen for validation
purposes were part of the Internal Ship Conflagration
Control (ISCC) program. The work focusses on the four
compartments of the ship which were vertically aligned.
The temperatures of three of the compartments and the
decks between them were compared with model predictions.
Predictions compared very closely with experimental
results for all compartments, although the temperature
rise in the topmost compartment was barely above
ambient.
Building and Fire Research Laboratory
National Institute of Standards and Technology
Gaithersburg, MD 20899