FireDOC Search

Author
Davis, W. D. | Notarianni, K. A. | McGrattan, K. B.
Title
Comparison of Fire Model Predictions With Experiments Conducted in a Hangar With a 15 Meter Ceiling.
Coporate
National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD
Sponsor
National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Washington, DC
Report
NISTIR 5927, December 1996, 61 p.
Distribution
Available from National Technical Information Service
Keywords
aircraft hangars | fire models | experiments | simulation | fire tests | heat detection | predictive models | smoke detection | computational fluid dynamics | zone models | experiments | smoke detection
Abstract
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration together with the National Institute of Standards and Technology are in the fourth year of a five year project designed to help NASA set guidelines for fire protection in high bay facilities. A high bay facility is defined in this study as any space with a ceiling height in excess of 9 m. NASA has numerous high bay spaces that are used to perform a variety of functions. The work this year made use of a set of fire experiments conducted in a 15 m high hangar by NIST and the U.S. Navy to study the predictive capabilities of zone fire models and computational fluid dynamics models (CFD). The models studied included the zone models CFAST, DETACT-QS, FPETool, and LAVENT and the CFD models CFX and NIST-LES. The study compares the model predictions with measured temperature profiles in the ceiling jet and the plume. Velocity measurements, smoke detector activation and the impact of draft curtains on smoke flow are also analyzed. The fires sizes studied in the experiment are 500 kW and 2.7 kW JP-5 pan fires.