Selecting a Fire Model and Applying Experimental Data to Model a Fire Incident

Christopher B. Wood
Managing Member
FIRELINK, LLC
Tewksbury, MA USA

ABSTRACT

This analysis begins with an application of the Society of Fire  Protection Engineer’s (SFPE’s) Guide to Substantiating a Fire Model for a Given Application. The Guide recommends that a model user use a process to analyze the relevant physics, evaluate candidate models, and select a particular model to use. Selection of the model is closely related to NFPA 921’s, Guide to Fire and Explosion Investigation, preliminary steps in the scientific method to identify and define the problem.

Following a modeler’s selection of a model to investigate a problem, the frequently followed next steps are to identify and collect the appropriate data for model input. Often times, this data may require some manipulation or interpretation before direct input into the model. This development of model data requires the modeler to understand the sensitivity of model outputs to model inputs to concentrate efforts on getting the highest available certainty on those parameters having the largest effect on the model outputs.

These steps are illustrated with the examination of an actual fire incident. The results demonstrate the important characteristics of hypothesis testing through the use of fire modeling. A Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS) model is analyzed and implemented. The implementation uses experimental data to develop critical input data.

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