Large Eddy Simulations of Sprinkler, Vent and Draft Curtain Performance.
Large Eddy Simulations of Sprinkler, Vent and Draft
Curtain Performance.
(888 K)
McGrattan, K. B.; Stroup, D. W.
Fire Suppression and Detection Research Application
Symposium. Research and Practice: Bridging the Gap.
Proceedings. National Fire Protection Research
Foundation. February 12-14, 1997, Orlando, FL, 59-68
pp, 1997.
Keywords:
fire suppression; fire detection; fire research; fire
safety; sprinklers; vents; curtains; mathematical
models; field models; computational fluid dynamics;
equations; heptane
Abstract:
The National Fire Protection Research Foundation (NFPRF)
is overseeing a project to evaluate the interaction of
sprinklers with draft curtains and smoke/heat vents.
The goal of the project is to develop an engineering
method capable of quantifying the conditions under which
vents and draft curtains are beneficial, and under which
they are detrimental, to the performance of a sprinkler
system in large enclosures. To reach the goal, full
scale commodity fires are being planned for a space that
will mimic as much as possible large storage and
manufacturing facilities. towards that end, 22 heptane
spray burner tests were conducted in January 1997 at the
Underwriters Laboratories large-scale fire test facility
to study the interaction between sprinklers, vents and
draft curtains in a well-controlled environment. One of
the objectives of thest tests was to evaluate the
predicitive capability of a field model poresently under
development at the National Institute of Standards and
Technology (NIST). The model, which is referred to as
the NIST Large Eddy Simulation (LES) fire model, is a
computational fluid dynamics code that solves the
equations governing the flow of smoke and hot gases from
a fire. Phenomena like sprinkler sprays, flame spread
and radiative transport have been incorporated in the
model. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the
numerical model and some sample calculaitons of the UL
heptane burner tests. The degree to which the model is
able to replicate the experimental results will
determine to what extent it can be used as a tool to
expand the experimental test matrix beyond its limited
number of tests, and also to plan the next series of
tests.
Building and Fire Research Laboratory
National Institute of Standards and Technology
Gaithersburg, MD 20899