Modeling fires using computational fluid dynamics (cfd)

Abstract

It was in the early 1920s that Lewis Richardson first demonstrated the feasibility of solving, using numerical methods, the governing equations of fluid flow for the purpose of weather prediction. It was notfor another 50 years that what is now known as computational fluid dynamics (CFD) emerged as a general analysis tool for the full breadth of fluid flow problems including those associated with fire. In contrast to zone models, the techniques of CFD evolved outside the fire community and were subsequently imported into it.The same basic CFD technology is being developed, applied, verified, and validated for a wide range of applications. Problems and successes demonstrated elsewhere can often be exploited in the fire context, although there are many issues that are unique to fire that can only be the responsibility of the fire community. Thesame tools that are used to study, for example, heat transfer in an internal combustion engine can also be used to evaluate indoor air movement, early detection of smoke, and the dispersion of combustion products within the atmospheric boundary layer.