Large eddy simulation of fire plumes

FireFOAM, a new fire modeling code based on the OpenFOAM platform (www.openfoam.org), is developed and applied to model a series of purely buoyant fire plumes with heat release rates from 14 to 58 kW. The calculations are compared with McCaffrey’s (1979) experiments. The simulation results demonstrate good quantitative agreement with experimental measurements, and show the scaling relations of mean temperature and velocity in the continuous flame, intermittent and plume regions. The numerical simulations are shown to be strictly conservative in energy. Predicted flame heights and entrainment rates also compare well with experimental correlations. The good agreements in all aspects examined show that the current CFD model performs well for small-scale fire plumes. Turbulent fluctuation intensities and PDF of mixture fraction are presented to gain more insights into the structure of fire plumes.