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Author
Ling, W. T. | Williamson, R. B.
Title
Modeling of Fire Spread Through Probabilistic Networks.
Coporate
California Univ., Berkeley
Journal
Fire Safety Journal, Vol. 9, No. 2, 287-300, 1985
Sponsor
Sandia Labs., Albuquerque, NM National Bureau of Standards, Gaithersburg, MD
Report
CIB W14/86/29 (USA)
Contract
W-7405-ENG-48
Keywords
flashover | fire spread | computer fires | computer models | room fires
Abstract
The postflashover fire spread from room to room is treated in a stochastic analysis beginning with the development of a probabilistic network, and followed by a method of solving the network for discrete probability distributions. The first step in this analysis is the construction of a graph representing a space in which the rooms are nodes, and the walls and other fire barriers are links between the nodes. The space network graph is then tansformed into a probabilstic network by introducing one node for representing the preflashover state and another node for representing the postflashover state of each room with the link between them representing the probability of flashover and the time characteristic to flashover. Each link between a flashed-over room and an adjacent space has a probability of the barrier being breached and a characteristic time of fire resistance. The probabilistic network is then solved by creating an "equivalent network" which has multiple links between the nodes to represent the uncertainty intrinsic to fire spread.