Cfd analyses used to evaluate the influence of compartment geometry on the possibility of development of a travelling fire

The response of structures exposed to fire is highly dependent on the type of fire that occurs, which is in turn very dependent on the compartment geometry. In the frame of the European RFCS TRAFIR project, CFD simulations using FDS software were carried out to analyse the influence of compartment geometry and the interaction with representative fuel loads to explore the conditions leading to the development of a travelling fire. The influence observed of ceiling height, crib spacing, and opening geometry in controlling spread rates tend to confirm the possibility to predict the occurrence or not of travelling fire. In a subsequent step, the radiative intensities and gas temperatures calculated by FDS have been used by SAFIR® to calculate the temperatures in steel structural elements located in the compartment and the structural behavior of a frame made of these elements.