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Author
Baum, H. R. | McGrattan, K. B. | Rehm, R. G.
Title
Three Dimensional Simulations of Fire Plume Dynamics.
Coporate
National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD
Book or Conf
International Association for Fire Safety Science. Fire Safety Science. Proceedings. Fifth (5th) International Symposium. March 3-7, 1997, Intl. Assoc. for Fire Safety Science, Boston, MA, Melbourne, Australia, Hasemi, Y., Editors, 511-522 p., 1997
Keywords
fire research | fire safety | fire science | fire plumes | aircraft hangars | large eddy simulation | pool fires | roofs | temperature | velocity | computational fluid dynamics | convection
Identifiers
buoyant convection; fire induced flows
Abstract
The velocity and temperature fields of fire plumes are studied theoretically and computationally using the authors' large eddy simulation techniques. A version of the Navier-Stokes equations specialized to the study of fire dynamics is used as the basis for the analysis. No empirical turbulence modeling parameters are introduced into the computations. these simplifications permit high resolution solutions to the three dimensional time-dependent Navier-Stokes to be directly compared with experimental correlations of the time-averaged properties of an isolated vertical plume. Comparisons are made by averaging the time-dependent numerical results rather than the governing equations. Computed mean velocities and temperature are shown to be in close agreement with McCaffrey's correlations. The methodology is then applied to the study of a large pool fire in an aircraft hangar with a complicated roof geometry. A simple cell masking scheme permits the inclusion of the building geometry into the calculation without sacrificing computational efficiency. The plume structure in the hangar is compared with the isolated plume properties.