Cfd modelling of fire suppression by water spray: sensitivity and validation for a pool fire in a room

In 1998, MoD commissioned ANSYS CFX to develop a numerical procedure, based on Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), aimed at providing a practical tool which can be integrated into design processes in order to optimise lowpressure fine water spray fire suppression systems. The work, which employs the CFX software, included a sensitivity study which investigated the influence of a number of parameters and compared the predictions with an experiment conducted by the Loss Prevention Council (LPC). This paper outlines parts of that work. Preliminary results were encouraging. The work has progressed to a second phase, which will include large-scale validation.