An Appraisal of Existing Room-Corner Fire Models

Abstract

Four fire growth models used to model the effects of room-corner fires are appraised using data obtained from a series of experiments involving full scale corner fire testing with four different interior linings. The room-corner models appraised are those of Wade (BRANZFIRE), Janssens, Karlsson and Quintiere. The models are appraised on the basis of their ability to accurately predict the conditions in the compartment. The models of Quintiere, Janssens and Karlsson are pure flame spread models and as such only provide a prediction of heat release rate, (HRR) and upper layer gas temperature. BRANZFIRE is the only of the three incorporating a zone model so comparison can be made to interface height upper layer temperature and lower layer temperature in the experimental compartment. The models provided by Karlsson and Janssens could not be run in an accurate manner so comparison had to be made on the basis of previously published data. BRANZFIRE was shown to predict the compartment conditions to a good degree of accuracy although the overall trend was to over predict the upper layer temperature and under predict accordingly the lower layer temperature and interface height. Both Karlsson and Quintiere's models are shown to grossly over predict the upper layer temperature. No temperature data was available for Janssens' model, but heat release rate comparisons to Quintiere and Karlsson indicate that this would also significantly over predict the upper layer temperatures. It is concluded that BRANZFIRE provided the best fit to the experimental data and with its adaptability to a multitude of fire situations is the closest to becoming a useable fire engineering design tool. The current beta release does however require a great deal of further testing for validation purposes.