ON THE SIMULATION OF FORCED-VENTILATION FIRES

Fires occurring in a forced-ventilation compartment would be very diff erent from those in a natural-ventilation compartment. The positions o f the fresh air intake and the exhaust and the values of the ventilati on rates are the important factors affecting the stability of the smok e layer and Be burning process of the materials. If the air intake pos itions are located at upper levels and the extract positions at the lo wer levels, the hot gases cannot rise due to the strong airflow induce d by the ventilation fans. The field modeling technique is applied to study the physical picture of Be forced-ventilation fire. A self-devel oped computational package for studying building fires and the UNSAFE- N developed at the University of Notre Dame are the two simulation too ls. A total of six simulations with the same ventilation flow rates bu t different air intake and exhaust positions are performed using the t wo field models. Results predicted are compared, and the calculated ai r temperatures are evaluated using the well-stirred model.