Sprinkler, Vent and Draft Curtain Interaction: Experiment and Computer Simulation.
Sprinkler, Vent and Draft Curtain Interaction:
Experiment and Computer Simulation.
(95 K)
McGrattan, K. B.; Stroup, D. W.
Fire Research and Engineering, Second (2nd)
International Conference. (ICFRE2). Proceedings.
ABSTRACTS ONLY. National Institute of Standards and
Technology and Society of Fire Protection Engineers.
August 10-15, 1997, Gaithersburg, MD, Slaughter, K. C.,
Editor(s), 14-14 pp, 1997.
Keywords:
fire research; fire protection engineering; computer
simulation; sprinklers; vents
Abstract:
ABSTRACT ONLY
The National Fire Protection Research Foundation is
overseeing a project to evaluate the interaction of
sprinklers with draft curtains and smoke/heat vents.
The goal of the project is to settle the long-standing
debate as to the conditions under which vents and draft
curtains are beneficial, and under which they are
detrimental, to the performance of a sprinkler system in
large enclosures. To reach the goal, full scale
commodity fires are being planned for space that will
mimic as much as possible large storge and manufacturing
facilities. Towards that end, a series of heptane spray
burner tests was conducted in January 1997 at the
Underwriters Laboratories large-scale fire test facility
to study the interaction between sprinklers, vents and
draft curtains in a well-controlled environment. One of
the objectives of these tests was to evaluate the
predictive capability of a field model presently under
development at the National Institute of Standards and
Technology (NIST). The model, which is referred to as
the NIST Large Eddy Simulation (LES) fire model, is a
computational fluid dynamics code that solves the
equations governing the flow of smoke and hot gases from
a fire. Phenomena like sprinkler sprays, flame spread
and radiative transport have been incorporated in the
model. The results of the experiments will be used to
assess the accuracy of the model, add new physical
phenomena if needed, and improve existing mechanisms if
weaknesses are detected. This exercise will greatly
increase the confidence in the model, allowing it to be
used to expand the test matrix beyond that of the actual
experiments, which are limited due to cost
considerations.
Building and Fire Research Laboratory
National Institute of Standards and Technology
Gaithersburg, MD 20899