Feasibility Study of Correlating Mass Quantity Output and Fuel Parameter Input of Different Simulations Using Fire Dynamics Simulator

Abstract

While fire dynamics can rarely be calculated more precisely than by use of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), using such techniques in computer simulations are often highly computationally expensive. To possibly reduce computational costs in Fire Safety Design (FSD) where several simulations need to be conducted, the author has investigated the feasibility of correlating variations in mass concentration output of Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS) to variations in fuel parameter input. In this study, such a correlation is deduced based on the relative significance of the mass source term of the FDS mass transport equation. From the results of 15 conducted simulations, the study suggests that the correlations may be applied to produce reasonable estimations of mass concentration output of a simulated scenario, based on the equivalent results of a base simulation. As such, consequences of fires as a function of fuel properties may be assessed rapidly, compared to conducting multitudes of simulations.