Risk Assessment through Fire and Evacuation Simulation in the Main Control Room of a Domestic Thermal Power Plant

Abstract

A fire in the main control room of a thermal power plant is a significant threat to the entire power plant by incapacitating the concept of performance design to secure the safety of the power plant. In this study, using the PyroSim and Pathfinder programs to evaluate fire and evacuation risk of the main control room, the appropriate time and fire shape for evacuating people calmly were confirmed when the available safe egress time and required safe egress time of the main control room were compared. In the case of a cable fire, the simulation results indicate the heat generation rate to be more serious than the actual experimental results showed. This is because heat generation was lower in the experiment as the polymer material constituting the cable fell to the floor during combustion and no loger burns. The fire dynamics simulator results indicate that the power plant facility is safe because even these points are not considered.