Fire Safety Science Digital Archive

The paper describes progress in the development of a numerical modeling methodology for predicting the environmental consequences of fires in warehouses. Two separate computational fluid dynamics models have been used to predict the emission of combustion products through warehouse roof openings and then to predict the atmospheric dispersion of the effluent. At this stage of development the dispersion model employs as boundary conditions the outflows, through the roof vents, predicted by the enclosure fire model. Results are presented for a representative warehouse containing a burning high-rack of storage with the hot gases vented to the external environment through nine roof vents. The key parameters for dispersion modeling are identified, and an example is provided using the emission from the nine roof vents. Further work is identified for the development of a practical hazard analysis tool.