A Numerical Study on the Effect of Volume Change in a Closed Compartment on Maximum Heat Release Rate

The effects of changes in area and location of fire source, fire growth rate, and volume of compartment on the major fire characteristics, including heat release rate, in closed compartment fires were examined. To this end, a fire simulation using Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS) was performed for ISO 9705 room with a closed opening. As main result, it was found that the changes in the area and location of fire source did not significantly affect the thermal and chemical characteristics inside the compartment, such as maximum heat release rate, total heat release, maximum temperature at upper layeras well as species concentrations. However, increasinthe fire growth rate and volume of compartment resulted in increase of the maximum heat release rate and total heat release, decrease in the limiting oxygen concentration and increase in the maximum CO concentration. Finally, a methodology for the application of fire growth curves to closed compartment fires was proposed by deriving the correlation of the maximum heat release rate expressed as a function of the fire growth rate and the volume ratio of compartment based on the ISO 9705 room.