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Facilitating Fire and Smoke Simulation Using Building Information Modeling

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Computer-Aided Architectural Design Futures. The Next City - New Technologies and the Future of the Built Environment (CAAD Futures 2015)

Part of the book series: Communications in Computer and Information Science ((CCIS,volume 527))

Abstract

CFAST is a two-zone model which simulates fire growth and smoke transport. Manually modeling a building using CFAST user interface is a time consuming and error-prone process. In addition, the limitations in CFAST structure impede data transfer between CFAST and BIM (Building Information Modeling). In this research, we identified major limitations of CFAST, proposed solutions to the limitations, and developed a system for data interchange between BIM and CFAST. This greatly facilitated fire and smoke simulation. We further developed a visualization module to visualize the simulation results to overcome the problems when using SmokeView, an application developed by NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology). A pilot test is conducted using this system. The simulation process was done in just a few minutes. This is expected to help architects to design buildings safer from building fires, and help students in learning building safety and fire related building codes.

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Acknowledgements

Funding of his research is provided by Natural Science Fund of China (grant No. 51308377).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Texas A&M University, College Station, USA

    Chengde Wu, Saied Zarrinmehr, Mohammad Rahmani Asl & Mark J. Clayton

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  1. Chengde Wu
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  2. Saied Zarrinmehr
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  3. Mohammad Rahmani Asl
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  4. Mark J. Clayton
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Chengde Wu .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Campinas, Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil

    Gabriela Celani

  2. University of São Paulo, São Carlos, São Paulo, Brazil

    David Moreno Sperling

  3. University of Campinas, Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil

    Juarez Moara Santos Franco

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Wu, C., Zarrinmehr, S., Asl, M.R., Clayton, M.J. (2015). Facilitating Fire and Smoke Simulation Using Building Information Modeling. In: Celani, G., Sperling, D., Franco, J. (eds) Computer-Aided Architectural Design Futures. The Next City - New Technologies and the Future of the Built Environment. CAAD Futures 2015. Communications in Computer and Information Science, vol 527. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-47386-3_20

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-47386-3_20

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-662-47385-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-662-47386-3

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