Façade fire tests – measurements and modeling

Abstract

In two recent papers [1, 2] the fire dynamics in a test rig for façade constructions according to the test method SP Brand 105 [3, 4] was investigated both experimentally and numerically. The experimental setup simulates a three-story apartment building (height 6.7 m, width 4 m and depth 1.6 m), with external wall-cladding and a “room fire” at the base. The numerical model was developed in the CFD program Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS) [5] with analogous geometry and instrumentation. The general features of the fire test were well reproduced in the numerical model however temperatures close to the fire source could not be properly accounted for in the model. In this paper the bi-directional probe measurements are elaborated on and the test used in Ref. [1] is revisited using different heat release rates in the numerical model. The velocity of the hot gases along the façade was well reproduced by the simulations although some deviations were found.