A smoke detector activation algorithm for large eddy simulation fire modeling

This study chronicles the development and integration of a smoke detector activation algorithm (known as the SDAA) that describes the response time of a smoke detector into a large eddy simulation (LES) fire model [Roby RJ, Olenick SM, Zhang W, Carpenter DJ, Klassen MS, Torero JL. Smoke detector activation algorithm version 1 technical reference guide. NISTIR Report; 2006, in press]. Although the SDAA could be used with any CFD smoke movement model, the results here address specifically its application to the fire dynamics simulator (FDS). The fire model predicts the smoke concentration and velocity adjacent to the detector while an algorithm based on characteristic velocity-based lag times describes the transport of smoke into the sensing chamber of the smoke detector. The experimental data from a multi-room compartment fire were used for comparison and a series of benchmark studies provide a mechanism to establish the sensitivity of the model to the different input parameters. The SDAA was found to be very accurate in determining detector activation times for both high- and low-velocity smoke flows.