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Author
Floyd, J. E. | Hunt, S. P. | Tatem, P. A. | Williams, F. W.
Title
Fire and Smoke Simulator (FSSIM) Version 1. User's Guide.
Coporate
Hughes Associates, Inc., Baltimore, MD IIT Industries, Alexandria, VA Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, DC
Sponsor
Office of Naval Research, Arlington, VA
Report
NRL/MR/6180-04-8806, July 16, 2004, 108 p.
Keywords
fire spread | smoke spread | fire models | simulation | computational fluid dynamics | compartments | ventilation | fuel load | ducts | fans | fire detection | fire suppression
Identifiers
Fire and Smoke SIMulator (FSSIM); FSSIM input file structure
Abstract
Several computational tools exist for examining fire effects that can be applied to a ship and its crew. Hand calculations can be used to examine simple scenarios in single compartments. Zone models are also suitable for more complex, time-dependent scenarios involving multiple compartments and levels, but stability can be a problem for multi-level scenarios, scenarios with Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems, and for post-flashover conditions. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models can yield detailed information about temperatures, heat fluxes, and species concentrations; however, the time penalty of this approach currently makes using CFD unfeasible for long periods of real time or large computational domains. Another class of models has traditionally played supporting roles in fire modeling. This class is constituted by a variety of network models, which are used for ventilation systems in buildings or fluid flow in piping networks. These models lack specific physics required for fire modeling. Therefore, to meet the computational speed and algorithm requirements, it was decided to develop Fire and Smoke Simulator (FSSIM) as a network fire model. This document (User's Guide) discusses creation of FSSIM input files, including guidance in transforming a prototype structure to a network representation, and explains the available outputs.