Improvement of CFD models of tunnel fire development based on experimental data

Abstract

This paper, dealing with the problems of mathematical description of the tunnel fire development process with the use of experimental data, outlines the procedure of correction of the existing and obtaining of an improved CFD model package. The improved CFD model was developed on the basis of detailed analysis and comparison of experimental and numerical results, through consideration of the physical structure of all processes affecting combustion. During the analysis it was noticed that the existing CFD model in the part covering combustion based on the so-called steady laminar flamelet model, treats the combustion process almost as a direct correlation between the processes of mixing gasses and heat release rate. This potential deficiency has been overcome by correction of the model in the section defining boundary condition for the burning surface and by establishing a direct correlation between the measured value of the fuel mass change rate and the amount of heat released from burning surface. In this way a modification of complex stoichiometric combustion processes was avoided, while providing the model that better describes and predicts the course of events in this type of complex, anisotropic and turbulent flow of gases in the tunnel.