Fire inside the cavity of a non-flammable facade: step-by-step development of multiphysics computer simulations
File(s)
Published version
Author(s)
Khoo, Benjamin
Jahn, Wolfram
Bonner, Matthew
Kotsovinos, Panagiotis
Rein, Guillermo
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
The cavities in a building facade can significantly increase the fire hazard, acting as pathways and accelerators for the vertical spread of flames and smoke, even in non-combustible facades. Ensuring fire safety during facade design requires a thorough understanding of how cavity geometry influences fire dynamics. However, established theories for this phenomenon are lacking. Therefore, in this study, we use the computational fluid dynamics code FireFOAM to develop step-by-step multiphysics simulations incorporating fluid mechanics, heat transfer, buoyancy, and combustion phenomena to investigate the non-linear behaviour in narrow vertical cavities. Four scenarios of increasing complexity are modelled and validated against experimental data from the literature. The simulations predict flow velocities and convective heat fluxes within 20% error and buoyancy-driven flow, radiative heat flux, and flame height predictions within 30% error across a range of cavity widths. The study also highlights the limitations of the models, offering insights for future refinement. The results demonstrate that computer simulations can reliably be used to study critical phenomena of cavity fires and, with future improvements, predict fire behaviour across various facade designs and conditions.
Date Issued
2025-07-01
Date Acceptance
2024-11-11
Citation
Fire Technology, 2025, 61 (4), pp.2235-2263
ISSN
0015-2684
Publisher
Springer
Start Page
2235
End Page
2263
Journal / Book Title
Fire Technology
Volume
61
Issue
4
Copyright Statement
© 2024 The Author(s) Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
License URL
Identifier
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/40476094
PII: 1680
Subjects
Buoyancy
BUOYANCY
CFD
CHANNEL
Combustion
DIRECT NUMERICAL-SIMULATION
Engineering
Engineering, Multidisciplinary
Flame
FLAMES
Flow
FLOW
FREE-CONVECTION
FUEL
HEAT-TRANSFER
LARGE-EDDY SIMULATION
Materials Science
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
Science & Technology
SMOKE SPREAD
Technology
Turbulence
Publication Status
Published
Coverage Spatial
United States
Date Publish Online
2024-12-24