Numerical simulation of smoke movement in clean room environments

Abstract

A computational model predicting extent of smoke clouds from possible clean room fires has been developed using CO 2 concentration as a marker for smoke concentration, which is believed to be more rigorous than the conventional approach relying on temperature profiles. The computational results are compared with results of reduced scale clean room fire tests and are found to be favorable enough to be used in field applications. The numerical model is employed for simulations of clean room fires with a typical full-scale geometry. The impact of air circulation rate, fire size, and fire location on the extent of CO 2 clouds, which could be converted to that of smoke clouds, has been analyzed. Sprinkler actuation and smoke detector locations for fast response with respect to different operating conditions are also discussed. Overall, it has been illustrated that numerical simulations can be adopted as a very useful tool in investigating and customizing optimal set of design parameters at a new facility or estimating a scale of contamination at an existing facility against potential clean room fires.