Develop efficient material pyrolysis model to improve fire growth predictions using the NIST computational tool fire dynamics simulator (FDS) to enhance fire safety

This federal Project Grant award, with ID 60NANB24D177, was provided by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) under the Measurement and Engineering Research and Standards (CFDA 11.609) program. The $100,000 grant, awarded on Oct 1, 2024, aims to develop an efficient material pyrolysis model to improve fire growth predictions using the NIST computational tool Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS), in order to enhance fire safety. Key activities include modeling experiments to investigate errors in FDS-predicted heat fluxes, analyzing FDS simulation results to recommend changes to heat transfer algorithms, and applying a scaling pyrolysis model to improve FDS's fire growth modeling capabilities. The expected outcome is an improved computational tool that can be extended to other computational fluid dynamics models, ultimately benefiting the fire protection community by enabling enhanced building fire protection and public safety.

Purpose

The purpose of this grant is to develop efficient material pyrolysis model to improve fire growth predictions using the NIST computational tool fire dynamics simulator (FDS) to enhance fire safety. This grant is for phase 2 of the project.

Activities

The following activities will be performed. First, modeling of the phase 1 and other experiments to investigate the sources of errors in FDS predicted heat fluxes will be carried out and added to the FDS validation guide. Second, the FDS simulation results will be analyzed to recommend potential changes to the individual heat transfer algorithms. Third, the scaling pyrolysis model will be applied to improve FDS capability to model fire growth.

Expected outcomes

The expected outcome is an improved computational tool, and the approach used in this work can generally be extended and applicable to other computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models using similar frameworks.

Intended beneficiaries

Fire protection community would benefit from the modified computational tool that could be used to improve building fire protection to enhance public safety.

Subrecipient activities

There is no subrecipient in this grant.