Evaluation of a zone model for fire safety engineering in large spaces

Abstract

Thanks to simple and straightforward calculation methods it is rather easy to estimate gas temperatures in small- or medium sized enclosures; however, the problem becomes more complex if fire safety analyses are to be performed in large spaces where the hot gas layer cannot be regarded as uniform. Using a multi-zone modelling concept could be a good alternative for such situations. However, few such models exist and the evaluation of the concept is scarce. This paper is therefore dedicated to study the multi-zone modelling concept and its usefulness in fire safety engineering by comparing results from such a model with results from a more established numerical method as well as experimental data. The results indicate that the multi-zone model gives reasonable estimates of gas temperatures in well-ventilated large spaces. It is also concluded that there is a potential for the multi-zone concept to be a complement to more advanced numerical modelling methods like Computational Fluid Dynamics.