Recreation of Fire Burn Patterns with Computer Simulations

The objective of this USFA/NIST research partnership is to determine if the NIST Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS) can be used to reliably recreate fire patterns in rooms and structures to improve fire investigation techniques. This project will involve full-scale fire experiment scenarios, using the FDS to predict the fire growth from small flaming ignition, the thermal conditions in the room during the fire, and the resulting fire patterns after fire suppression. This effort will compare FDS with video and photographic documentation.

The results of this research will be provided to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) technical committee responsible for the NFPA 921 Standard, Guide for Fire and Explosion Investigations so that they may be possibly incorporate the information developed as a result of the research effort in future editions of the standard.