Here are some models that I have been working on for this semester. They are done in Fire Dynamics Simulator. [Click on a picture for a larger version.]

The first set is a small section of the King’s Cross fire which occurred in a London Underground station in 1987 and killed 31 people. The flames were said to have been traveling sideways because of the trench effect that the escalator tunnel gave way to. Many people went up a parallel escalator and were later killed in the ticketing room where the hot gases were collecting from the escalator like a chimney.

Early stages of the fire in which the wooden treads are catching from the fire underneath:

View of surface temperatures within the escalator shaft. The concrete ceiling reaches temperatures of 700 degrees Celsius after a few minutes of the fire growth stage in our model.

The gas temperature represented by different colors. The gas temperature is about 1500 degrees C after a few minutes in the model:

Two views which show 1) the velocity field within the shaft 2) the trench effect on the flames and fire spread 3) the smoke layer within the shaft 4) and the plume trajectory in the shaft

This is another model which is being used to teach a class in structural fire safety. It is an arena model and shows how readily a fire will develop in an unprotected large room with no fire protection and a large fuel load. The layout is similar to churches as well, many of which are grandfathered into the modern times and exempted from installing fire protection such as sprinklers or evacuation alert systems.

The fire spreads from a source in the corner. The smoke spreads quickly and serves as a medium to heat the roof and structural elements. The energy from the seats flows upwards and feeds the spread throughout the roof, while the radiant energy comes back down to continue the cyclic destruction of the building’s elements:

Outside view of the arena with an angle wood roof and glass atrium at the peak:

View of surface temperatures inside of the arena:

I hope that you enjoyed today’s lesson and learned something from me sharing my current progress in fire modeling for the semester. Enjoy!