Heat Transfer Analysis of Full-Scale Safe Rooms Exposed to Bushfire Conditions

Sheltering in place is identified as an accepted behaviour during disasters while safe rooms are purpose-built buildings used for sheltering or storage of valuables under these circumstances. However, ensuring the integrity of safe rooms in bushfires is complex and challenging due to many factors. This study aims to advance the understanding of the bushfire fire heat transfer in steel framed bushfire safe rooms using a numerical modelling approach. Both small-scale models of individual external walls and full-scale models of safe rooms were developed and validated using the results of an experimental study of a full-scale safe room. Then the study was extended to address the identified challenges in the design of safe rooms influenced by the factors such as, the fire exposed area, internal compartment arrangement, location of the safe room in the bushfire-prone areas, and the external environmental temperatures during summer on the tenability requirements. The results of this study provide considerable details of the performance of above-ground bushfire safe rooms detached from the associated dwelling under realistic fire conditions. They showed that the integrity of the doors is very important and that having multiple internal compartments is favourable for the bushfire performance of safe rooms. This study shows that safe rooms can be constructed using available building materials to satisfy the bushfire heat transfer requirements and provides conditions for their usage. Furthermore, the modelling methods emphasise their applicability to evaluate safe rooms and modular buildings in bushfire and building fire related scenarios.

Automated summary

This study advances our understanding of fire heat transfer in steel framed bushfire safe rooms using numerical modelling. The results show that the integrity of the doors and the presence of multiple internal compartments are crucial for the bushfire performance of safe rooms. The study also demonstrates that safe rooms can be constructed using available building materials to meet the requirements of bushfire heat transfer.