Modeling Fires - The Next Generation of Tools.
Modeling Fires - The Next Generation of Tools.
(28 K)
Jones, W. W.
Society of Fire Protection Engineers and WPI Center for
Firesafety Studies. Computer Applications in Fire
Protection Engineering. Technical Symposium.
Proceedings. Final Program. June 20-21, 1996,
Worcester, MA, 13-18 pp, 1996.
Keywords:
fire protection engineering; predictive models; zone
models; fire models; computational fluid dynamics
Abstract:
This paper discusses fire modeling and how it is
changing. The examples will be based on the tools that
are being developed at NIST, in the Building and Fire
Research Laboratory, but the general concepts are
universally true. Modeling of fire, in the sense most
understand it, is a relatively new discipline. Although
Kawagoe first proposed that one might be able to
estimate the outcome of a fire scenario in the early
fifties, and Emmons actually tried to make it happen in
the seventies, it wasn't until the early eighties that
the science of fire and engineering applications became
popular. Much of the impetus in the United States came
from the National Commission on Fire Prevention and
Control, America Burning, after which the Center for
Fire Research was established. Subsequently, the
Federal Trade Commission developed a formal complaint
that small scale testing did not adequately address the
real behavior of materials. This led to an interest in
tests which measured fire performance properties rather
than simple classifications.
Building and Fire Research Laboratory
National Institute of Standards and Technology
Gaithersburg, MD 20899