Fire dynamics simulator (version 4.0) simulation for tunnel fire scenarios with forced, transient, longitudinal ventilation flows

In this study, a series of sensitivity analyses were conducted to evaluate a computational fluid dynamic (CFD) model, Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS) version 4.0, for tunnel fire simulations. A tunnel fire test with a fire size on the order of a 100 MW with forced, time-varying longitudinal ventilation was chosen from the Memorial Tunnel Ventilation Test Program (MTVTP) after considering recent tunnel fire accidents and the use of CFD models in practice. A careful study of grid size and parameters used in the Large Eddy Simulation (LES) turbulence model-turbulent Prandtl number, turbulent Schmidt number, and Smagorinsky constant-was conducted. More detailed analyses were performed to refine the smoke layer prediction of FDS, especially on backflow (i.e., a reversed smoke flow near the ceiling). Also, energy conservation was checked for this scenario in FDS. A simple guideline is given for smoke layer simulations using FDS for similar tunnel fire scenarios.