- Author
- Bounagui, A. | Benichou, N. | Kashef, A. | McCartney, C.
- Title
- CFD Simulation of a Fire in the Living Area of Three Storey Residential House to Evaluate Life Safety in Houses.
- Coporate
- National Research Council of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario
- Report
- NRCC-47008,
- Book or Conf
- Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) 2004. 12th Annual Conference. Proceedings. May 9, 2004, Ottawa, Canada, 1-6 p., 2004
- Keywords
- living rooms | computational fluid dynamics | heat release | simulation | residential buildings | life safety | housing | thermal properties | vents | thermcouples | ventilation
- Identifiers
- thermocouple positions; CO, CO2 and visibility measurements at the northeast quarter point of the facility; tenability criteria
- Abstract
- Over time there have been changes in construction practices, building designs and materials and construction technologies. The Institute for Research in Construction (IRC) at the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) is undertaking research project to determine the impact of innovative residential construction products and systems on the fire safety of houses. The research study includes two phases: experimental and numerical. A new three-level full-scale experimental facility, representing a typical single-family house, has been built to study the structural fire performance, smoke movement and tenability conditions in the event of a fire. In the event of a fire in the first storey of a house, fire and smoke can move up to the main and second floors either through an open door or any openings in the floor structure between the basement and the main floor rendering the upper floor untenable for the occupants. Using CFD simulations this paper investigates the effect of the state of a stairwell door (opened or closed) on the fire development as well as on the moving up of the toxic gases to the upper floors. Simulation results were then used to estimate the time when conditions would become untenable, based on criteria found in the literature.