Investigating the Heat Release Rate of Large-scale Calorimeter using FDS Analysis

Abstract

This study aims to identify the key design factors of a large-scale calorimeter and evaluate the accuracy of the simulation results using the Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS) program. The design specifications of a domestic large-scale calorimeter were analyzed to determine the modeling and input conditions for the simulation. The simulation results of temperature, mass flow rate, and oxygen concentration reduction inside the duct were compared with the experimental results for heptane pool fires with diameters of 1.1 m, 1.24 m, and 1.44 m, respectively. To validate the accuracy of the simulation results, the deviations, calculated using FDS for the heat release rate as the experimental value, were found to be 19.12%, 11.86%, and 0.22% for temperature, mass flow rate, and oxygen concentration, respectively. Ultimately, the results of the heat release rate inside the duct obtained by the oxygen consumption method with FDS were found to be consistent with the experimental value, within 2.58%. However, the deviation of oxygen concentration is reduced as the deviation of mass flow rate increases for a constant heat release rate. This implies that for more accurate analysis, the heat loss and shape factors in the duct should be considered.