FLAME SPREAD · Fully Coupled Fluid-Solid Simulation of Upward Flame Spread and Fire Growth

The proposed project will encompass a multitude of modelling and simulation techniques, that complement each other, bringing together fluid simulation, conjugate heat transfer, material flammability, pyrolysis, combustion, materials property and analytical methods spanning across a variety of disciplines in order to exploit the Fellow’s expertise in computational fluid dynamics (CFD), combustion, chemistry and numerical analysis to a basic and yet very important engineering problem that underpins the fire safety in the built environment and transport systems. The Fellow will integrate the different modelling techniques to capture the complex physics and chemistry that underpins the complex processes of flame spread and fire growth. He will also make full use of his analytical ability to critically assess the experimental data which is abundant in quantity but presenting conflicting results, in some cases; and on this basis, select appropriate data for model validation. He will also conduct new experiments in the host’s partner institution to facilitate blind validation. The Fellow will thus deliver a validated flame spread model within the frame of the open source CFD code OpenFOAM, that will be able to predict upward flame spread in different geometric configurations and complexities. He will also demonstrate the use of the powerful-state of the art predictive tool to attack flame spread in realistic fire scenarios, such as warehouse fires and fires in aircraft. The Fellow, through regular seminars, workshops and other dissemination activities, planned for the duration of this project, will also transfer knowledge directly to the European academic and engineering community as well as the industry community that is charged with the responsibility of fire safety for European citizens and business.