PYROSIM

Safety audit and pre analysis of fire and smoke propagation in a hospital building using FDS
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1 General
Most of the high rise buildings are merely concentrating the structural design only. They not
give much importance in the area of fire prevention. But our project gives more importance to the
simulation of fire growth and propagation of smoke before the construction of building. Multi storied
hospitals which claim to be super speciality lack the basic fire protection systems. They give least
priority to fire safety as they consider it as an additional and unnecessary expense. This project
discusses the development of fire and propagation of smoke inside a multi-storied hospital building by
using fire dynamic simulator (FDS) and supporting software's such as Pyrosim and Autodesk revit.
Based on the results obtained from the simulation we can alter the building designs with a proper
selection of materials and redesign of structures. A safety audit is also carried out to find the
deficiencies in the hospital. Carmel hospital, Pala, Kerala is selected for study purpose. The main
objective of this project is to assess then fire growth and propagation of smoke in the building. Also
simulate the smoke spread from a compartment into an adjacent larger space. In this project, we
analyse the smoke propagation in buildings at 30, 60,120 seconds of time. The objective of safety
audit is to review the design deficiencies and the protection systems in the hospital.
With the developments of new cities, there will be a drastic decrease in the availability of free
land. Also, modernization and urbanization will be a major factor that affects the above problem. As a
result, high rise buildings are introduced then chances of fire accidents also increased. The main
causes of death during a fire accident in a building is due to toxic gas inhalation from fire and
problems caused by smoke. Also, the congested spaces and improper design in high-rise buildings are
the major reasons for a fast smoke spread. FDS software is developed by building fire research
laboratory of NIST. FDS numerically solves Naiver-Stokes equation for low spread fire and for
incompressible flow both Continuity equation and Naiver-Stokes equation are used. In the case of a
large spaces, large eddy simulation method is used (LES). It will help to resolve large -flow field
solutions and also it gives better fidelity and a combustion is modelled using mass fractions (ratios of
combustible gases originated in a given place corresponding to all main reactants and products). In
Naiver-Stokes equation conservation of mass, momentum and energy are considered. Design of a
smoke control system is often an important element of the fire safety strategy for a building. Fire
safety engineers often refer to simple empirical correlations, zone models or field models as tools for
smoke control design. One of the most commonly used field models is called Fire Dynamics
Simulator (FDS). It is a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) model developed specifically for fire
Department of Safety and Fire Engineering, TIST 1
applications. FDS is widely used by fire researchers, investigators and engineers. Safety audits are
vital in identifying and adressing potential hazards and unsafe conditions. It provides an opporturnity
for departments and staff to reemphasize safety by focussing on safety topics specific to each section.
The main objective of this study is to assess the accuracy of FDS predictions for a scenario in
which smoke spreads from a small compartment into an adjacent larger Space, from which it is then
extracted using powered ventilation system. Such a fire Scenario can be encountered, for example, in
a hospital building where face onto a feature atrium. A review of the existing and ongoing validation
work for FDS is presented, based on the information obtained from published papers and other
sources. The assessment of predictive capabilities of FDS is made in the context of the statement made
by the authors of the program, that it can predict flow velocities and temperatures to an accuracy of 5
to 20% for simulations that involve simple mass and heat transfer. In this study, the results of small-
scale physical experiments are compared with the FDS predictions. The main parameters for which
assessment is made include temperatures in the fire compartment and in the smoke reservoir and the
height of the smoke layer in the reservoir. The influence of different mesh types is investigated.
The comparison is primarily made for simple problems, where the heat release rate of a fire is
decided in prior and it is treated as a model input. A brief study is also included on more complex fire
scenarios where the burning rate is not known and it must therefore be calculated by the program. The
comparison between the FDS predictions and the experimental values made in this study confirms the
observations made earlier by other authors that the resolution of the numerical grid is critical for
accurate results. Where a coarse mesh was used, FDS predictions were in certain cases found to differ
from the experimental results by more than 20%. Where the burning rate is predicted by the program,
prescribing proper thermal and combustion properties of the fuel was also found to be crucial.
Safety audit is a systematic and independent examination to determine whether activities and
related results conform to planned arrangements and whether these arrangements are implemented
effectively and are suitable to achieve the organization's policy and objectives. The health and safety
management audit our members adopted is a structured process of collecting independent information
on the efficiency, effectiveness and reliability of the total H&S management system and drawing up
plans for corrective action. Auditing examines each stages in the H&S management system by
measuring compliance with the controls the organisation has developed, with the ultimate aim of
assessing their effectiveness and their validity for the future.

1.2 Aim
The aim of this project is to carry out a safety audit and Pre analysis of fire and smoke
propagation in a hospital building by using FDS software and. We selected a hospital building in Pala
(Carmel) for the study purpose.
1.3 Motivation
Fire safety is matter of vital importance for hospitals concerning employee and patients in
equal measure. After the grief-stricken incidence of AMRI hospital fire on December 9, 2011 in
Kolkata, the question of hospital safety and preparedness to deal with fire hazard has come up.
Unawareness of safety measures especially among hospital staff led to death toll of more than 90
persons including patients and staff .Looking at the history of hospital fire around the world and India,
there was an observed need to give much more focus on fire safety of hospitals and is advisable to
conduct a a safety audit and the pre analysis of fire and smoke propagation inside the hospital
building.
1.4 Scope
The scope of project:-
 Preparation of evacuation
 Plan Structural planning
 Pre analysis of the buildings
 Design of the structure
 Model making
 Safety audit
1.5 Methodology
The project follows a well-planned methodology for the successful completion of the project.
 Literature Review
 Software study

 3D modelling using sketchUp pro 2016, Pyrosim, AutoCAD
 Evacuation analysis
 Comparison study with different criteria‟s
 Conduct safety audit
 Report preparation
1.6 Organization of report
The project report contains twelve chapters. The first chapter „INTRODUCTION‟ discusses
about FDS software and its origin, applications…etc. Objective, scope and methodology of the project
are also included. The second chapter, „REVIEW OF LITERATURES‟ contains the literature
reviewed about the project. The third chapter „GOVERNING EQUATIONS‟ included the major
equations involved in FDS. The fourth chapter includes the „DISCRIPTION ABOUT THE
BUILGING‟. The floor details, Location, Site Plan, Building Model of the proposed building are also
added in the same chapter. The chapter five includes the details of the „OCCURANCE OF FIRE IN
BUILGINGS‟. Which include chances of fire in buildings and Fire science and technology. The sixth
chapter deals with the „SOFTWARES USED‟ in the project. The seventh chapter is „DESIGN
PROCEDURES‟. The eighth chapter deals with „SIMULATION PROCEDURES‟ which contain
steps involved in the simulation. The nineth chapter deals with „EVACUATION‟ which is done by
using path finder .The Chapter tenth include „RESULT AND DISCUSION‟ about the project. The
eleventh chapter include „CONCLUSION‟. The final chapter is „SAFETY AUDIT‟.

CHAPTER 2
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Literature review is an integral part of any project. It is an evaluative report of information

found in the literature related to the selected area of study. The review describes, summarize, evaluate
and clarify the project. It gives a theoretical base and help in determining the nature of study. It has to
be conducted to understand various aspects of the project and it helps in the successful completion of
the project. A well planned literature review is characterized by a logical flow of ideas, current and
relevant references with consistent appropriate referencing style.
According to the previous accidents happened we can clearly understand that the one of the
major problems for fire accident is improper structure and congested space in the building. Numerous
building fire accidents caused considerable loss in human life and properties. Mainly the introduction
of high rise building will be the reason for this drastic increase in the death rate due to building fire
accidents. The NIST and NFPA manuals claim an estimated 15700 reported fires in high rise
structures per year that resulted in an associated loss of 53 civilian death, 546 civilian injury and 235
million indirect property damage. The risk of fire is greater on the lower floors for hospitals, hotels
and apartments, but greater for upper floor office building. When the fire on high rise building occurs,
only 10-15% humans behavere calm and act quickly. 15% human do nothing. The world trade
accident only 45% survivors knew the building had three stairs only 50% knew the roof top doors
would be locked.
The AMRI hospital fire of Kolkata in 2011, which took the lives of 90 people, is a
milestone in the infamous annals of hospital fires in India. The tragic deaths apart, it served to
throw up several lessons for hospital administrators and fire safety regulators. The list is long but
chief among them were these: Hospitals have a multitude of flammable materials, each with
different degrees of combustibility, each reacting differently to heat and fire. There were no smoke
alarms, no emergency exits, no water in the hydrants, no overhead tanks, no circuit breakers, not a
trace of any disaster response system. Yet, AMRI has a modicum of a claim to being a modern
hospital. Only, in the tradition of many new hospitals in India, it gave attention to appointing itself
with modern technological appurtenances rather than invest in fire-fighting systems, whose success
lies in never having to be used.
Driving force for the stack effect, there is a pressure difference between outside air and there
inside building caused by the difference in temperature between outside and inside air. That pressure
difference EQ is the driving force for the stack effect. It is calculated by the equation given below.

ΔP = cah( Equation 2.1
Where,
ΔP = Available pressure difference
c = Constant (0.0342)
a = Atmospheric pressure
h = Height or distance in metre
T = Absolute outside temperature in Kelvin
Ti = Absolute inside temperature in Kelvin
The draft floor rate induced by the stack effect can be calculated with the equation presented below.
√ Equation 2.2
Where,
Q = Stack effect drift flow rate in m3/s
C = Constant (0.0342)
A = Flow area in m2
g = Acceleration due to gravity
h = Height or distance in metre
Ti = Absolute inside temperature in Kelvin
T = Absolute outside temperature in Kelvin
Fire dynamic simulator is a computational fluid dynamics simulation model of fire driven fluid
flow. The software solves numerically a form of the Navier-stocks equations, thermally driven flow,
with an emphasis on smoke and heat transport from fires. The program calculates temperature,
density, pressure velocity and chemical compositions within each numerical grid cells at each discrete
time step.
In order to investigate effect of parameters on fire and heat propagation, variables for fire
simulation are chosen as period of fire, size of inflammable materials and fire growth phase. Transient
heat transfer analysis is performed to predict temperature distributions between inside the structural

members. Commercial finite elements (FE) analysis software, ABAQUS6.10-3 used to generate FE
elements of the fire initiated compartments
Heat propagations are investigated by fire simulation and transient heat transfer analysis in the
fire simulation parametric studies for the effect of fire growth phase and size of inflammable materials
on time temperature curvatures are included temperatures are examined at different locations and
height of the fire initiated room.
The FDS uses the following modellings for running the simulation,
Hydrodynamic Model: FDS solves numerically a form of the Navier-Stokes equations appropriate
for lowspeed, thermally-driven flow with an emphasis on smoke and heat transport from fires.
Turbulence is modelled by Large Eddy Simulation (LES).
Combustion Model: For most applications, FDS uses a mixture fraction combustion model. The
mixture fraction is a conserved scalar quantity that is defined as the fraction of gas at a given point in
the flow field that originated as fuel. The model assumes that combustion is mixing-controlled, and
that the reaction of fuel and oxygen is infinitely fast. The mass fractions of all of the major reactants
and products can be derived from the mixture fraction by means of “state relations,” empirical
expression sarrived at by a combination of simplified analysis and measurement.
Radiation Transport: Radiative heat transfer is included in the model via the solution of the radiation
transport equation for a non-scattering gray gas, and in some limited cases using a wide band model.
The equation is solved using finite volume methods.
Boundary Conditions: All solid surfaces are assigned thermal boundary conditions, plus information
about the burning behavior of the material. Usually, material properties are stored in a database and
invoked by name.
Basic input required for FDS simulations are mesh size and number, material property, thermal
and boundary conditions of solid material domain boundary condition of solid materials, domain
boundary, fire load and time.
Since FDS is a high level programming language, it is very difficult to produce the geometric
design of the building. So we use the Pyrosim software for geometry design of cinema hall. PyroSim
is a graphical user interface for the Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS). Material properties and boundary
conditions are obtained from laboratory experiments and from FDS hand book. FDS simulation helps

to find out higher potential area and one advantage is that we can vary parameters according to user‟s
requirements.
W.Jahn (2015) [4] says about the computation prediction of propagation of smoke and fire in
building. Also smoke control and evacuation routes are also discussed. This analysis is mainly
conducted in areas like worship places, big hotels, shopping centres, etc. FDS is the fire version of
CFD. The validation of FDS will be done using the data from other CFD programs, codes and
Standards.
FDS will be solved numerically by using Navier-stokes equations for low speed flow,
thermally driven flow, etc. In Navier-stokes equation conservation of mass, momentum and energy are
considered. Computational fluid dynamic method will be executed using three main input data‟s they
are building description, computational mesh and domain and boundary conditions.
In building disruptions mainly, the data‟s like length and width of the doors, stair case cross sections
are collected. In computational mesh and domain, we consider cubic cells in vertical and horizontal
directions and they capture flow of thermal fields. In boundary conditions the behaviour of materials,
heat transfer between the walls are considered, the walls are considered to be solid. Normal
temperature in the building is considered to be 20degree Celsius as per standards.
P.Coyle (2013) [18] says that fire dynamic simulator (version 5) program is computational tool
for the prediction of fire scenarios and smoke spread that are expected in almost all type of buildings
and program prediction depends on architecture plan and burning materials. The building used to
analysis by FDS have to divide in to grid cells. According to this paper the core algorithm of FDS is
an explicit predictor corrector scheme, second order accurate in space and time. the smoke view is
another program that is used as a post processing tool to visualize the result of FDS and FDS solves
numerically a form of the Navier-stocks equations approximates for low speed thermally driven flow
with an emphasis on smoke and heat transport from fire.
L.Razdolsky (2014) [6] says FDS software developed by building fire research laboratory at NIST,
is geared to the development of eddy simulation, and it can quickly and accurately analyse three
dimensional fires. And FDS includes analysis at fire detectors and water spraying fire extinguishing
system function modules which can be used to study the influences of safety installations to fire
development and it has an open program structure, good processing ability.
He says that, thunder head engineering Pyrosim is a kind of simulation software for
firefighting and Pyrosim graphical user interface can be used as fire dynamic simulator used to create
fire protection simulation, accurately predict and analyse fire and smoke movement, temperature and
gas concentrations. Pyrosim 2008 graphical users interfere for FDS v5 and SMV (smoke view). the
key features of Pyrosym 2008 are, the use of floor plans, right angle walls, and other power full tools

for two dimensional and three dimensional interactive geometry editor, can import the existing FDS 4
and FDS 5 model, can convert FDS 4 format file to FDS file, directly introduce AutoCAD‟s DXF
files. The FDS +EVAC can be simulate approximately up to 10000 people in fire simulation in its
main evacuation grid, and is sufficient for most fire evacuation studies.
Zhen xu, et al. (2010) says the smoke hazards and its assessments using FDS and GIS
(geographic information system), for that we have to calculate the ASET value and compare it with
RSET value and for a proper safety evacuation RSET should be less than ASET. and in this they use
three parameters they are mainly toxicity, heat, visibility FED (fractional effective doss) and IHD are
the two methods they are used to find out the ASET values FED is developed by American national
institute of standards and technology(NIST) and FED proposed 6 gas models using the equation.
Equation 2.3
Where,
FED = Fractional Effective Dose
M, b = Combined toxic effect of CO and CO2
LC50= Gas volume fraction that can lead to 50% of animal death
In FED analysis toxicity visibility heat are considered where as in IHD (integrated hazard
dose) only toxicity and heat are considered and visibility will magnify the effects of toxicity the
equation used for IHD analysis is
Equation 2.4
Where,
IHD = Integrated Hazard Dose
a = Amplification factor
T = Average of temperature at 30 minute
Tcr = Critical Temperature
Ta = Original temperature of the building

The first step is to obtain the GIS model from the building information then it will be
converted to FDS model by the interface given in this study.. Then analyse and evaluation of smoke
hazard and its assessments will be done. This result will be shown in GIS file.
For the stimulation we have to follow GIS and FDS stimulation and input its steps. After the
analysis on the basis of IHD value the buildings are classified to different zones. Also the ASET
values are calculated and made necessary rearrangements to increase the ASET values for proper
evacuation. Using FDS and GIS software‟s we can calculate the ASET values and change the design
of buildings. Using FDS we can analyse and compare the building before and after condition like
position of windows door etc.
Jiangfing el al. (2013) says about performance based fire protection design based on FDS. In
1980 they were using performance based fire safety evaluations by using various properties,
predictions and numerical calculations. According to this paper danger due to fire is of three ways one
is by toxic gases from synthetic leather, second by the oxygen usage for combustion process and also
due to high temperature. For a fire to spread need combustible object and oxides .It also depends on
ventilation, location of fire and combination of materials. Using FDS we can simulate fire and study
smoke spread from the first second to last second. By using FDS simulator we can make changes to
prevent fire and give good mechanical ventilations to reduce smoke spread and toxic effect of smoke.
In the Evac software, evacuation person‟s body model is a three circle model. Three
overlapping circles represent the physical characteristics of the human body. The great circle in the
middle represents body round, and the two small circles on both sides represent arm round, while the
outside oval represents the projection of the human body in the ground. Rt is the radius of the circle of
the human body .Rd is the size from the center of the body to the outer most end of shoulders, and Rs is
the radius of the shoulder circle. It also defines five types of personnel (adult, men, women, children,
the elderly), and they all correspond to different body size parameters and walking speed. Note that
the default software setting is the human dimension of the Europe and the United States, while the
body sizes of the Chinese people have a greater deviation. Because the new Chinese human body size
table has not been announced, so it can be set in accordance with the GB10000-1988 standard.

Fig 2.1:Physical characteristics of a evacuative person
He says we can analyze the development of fire and the evacuation in different circumstances
and also get the time of evacuation by changing the occupant density. Then we can obtain the function
between the evacuation and the occupant density by data fitting, and then provide a scientific and
reasonable proposal on fire and person evacuation to minimize the loss of fire. Besides that, we can
develop virtual fire-fighting training system to provide real data of fire. Such as the fire development
without human control, the amount of liquid sprayed to extinguish the fire and location of the fire
suppression. So the virtual fire training system will offer the training and the simulation more like the real
fire.
M C Mack (2013) says Evac Uses a game theory to build exit routes selection model, the model
assumes that each person is able to observe the locations and actions of others person, everyone will
choose the quickest evacuation route, then the exit-choosing becomes an optimal decision-making
problem. Everyone attempts to choose the shortest evacuation time line. The estimated evacuation
time consists of the estimated walking time, and the estimated waiting time. Estimated waiting time is
the function of other people‟s positions and actions, the model assumes that people will change the
course of action only when there is an obviously better evacuation routes than the current program. In
addition to other people‟s actions and location, there are other factors which will affect people‟s
decision-making progress,including:
 fire-related environment,
 people‟s familiarity to exit,
 exit‟s visibility,
 evacuation decision-making,
These factors are classified as constrain conditions for solving minimum evacuation time problems.

CHAPTER 3
GOVERNING EQUATIONS
3.1 General Features of the Computational Modelling
FDS code is a computational tool for the prediction of fire scenarios and smoke spread that are
expected in almost all types of buildings. The code prediction depends on the architectural plans of
the building in addition to the burning materials. The code is based on the solution of the governing
equations of flow and combustion due to fire. The core algorithm of FDS is an explicit predictor-
corrector scheme, second-order accurate in space and time. Turbulence is treated by means of the
Large Eddy Simulation (LES).
3.2 Flow Governing Equations

FDS solves numerically a form of the Navier-Stokes equations appropriate for low-speed;
thermally-driven flow with an emphasis on smoke and heat transport from fires as follows:
Conservation of mass:
Equation 3.1
Conservation of momentum:
Equation 3.2
Conservation of energy:
Equation 3.3
Where,
ρ = Fluid density
u = Flow velocity vector
f = Specific body force vector

P = Pressure
t = time
h = Planck constant
q = Quantity of energy
Equation of state for a perfect gas:

Equation 3.4
Where,
P = Pressure
ρ = Density
R = Gas Constant
T = Temperature
3.3 Mesh size calculation

The cell size (dx) for a given simulation can be related to the characteristic fire diameter (D*),
i.e., the smaller the characteristic fire diameter, the smaller the cell size should be in order to
adequately resolve the fluid flow and fire dynamics.
The characteristic fire diameter (D*) is given by the following relationship:
Equation 3.5
Where,
D*= fire diameter in cm
Q = Heat Release rate in kW
ρ =Density in kg/m3
Cp = Specific heat in kJ/Kg-K
=Ambient temperature in k
= Gravity in m/s2
3.4 Volume of Smoke

In a fire scenario it is presumed that volume of the mixture of toxic and hot gases and vapours
is very less as compared to the volume of entrained air. There for the rate of production of smoke by a
fire is approximately the rate at which air is entrained by the rising column of hot gases and fumes.

The rate of air entrainment depends on:

 Perimeter of the fire
 Heat produced by the fire
 The effective height of the column of hot gases above the fire (i.e., the distance between the
floor and the bottom of the layer of smoke and hot gases which form under a sealing).
The mass of gas entrained by a fire (the quantity smoke produced) can be estimated using the
following equation:
M=0.096*P*P0*Y1.5*(g× (T0 /T))0.5 Equation 3.6
Where,
P= Perimeter of fire (m)
Y=Distance between floor and bottom of smoke layer under sealing (m)
P0 =Density of the ambient air (1.22Kg/m3 at 170C)
T0=Absolute temperature of ambient air (2900K)
T =Absolute temperature of flames in smoke plume (11000K)
g= Acceleration due to gravity (9.8m/s2)
M=Rate of production of smoke (Kg/s)
3.5 Smoke Spreading Time

This is the time for a smoke to get developed, touch the sealing and return back to a head level.
But the time taken for the smoke to travel from the sealing up to farthest wall is not accounted for,
which in fact is very small compared to the time. The leading edges of the smoke may travel as fast as,
at the rate of 1m/s. ignoring this, time taken for the smoke to fill the entire room can be calculated as
per the following relation given below
Equation 3.7
Where,
t= Time taken in seconds
A= Floor area of the room, compartment and any such enclosure (m2)
P= perimeter of the fire (m)
y= the distance from the floor to the lowest surface of the smoke layer (m)
h= Height of the enclosure under consideration
g= Acceleration due to gravity (9.8 m/s2)
CHAPTER 4
DESCRIPTION ABOUT THE BUILDING
Carmel hospital, Pala,a multi-storied hospital building is selected for the analysis of fire
growth and Smoke propagation. The present model is a 4 storey building with overall plan area
of about 9600 m2 and the overall height is 13 meters. The different floors of building contains
blood bank, ICU,X ray, patient rooms and wards ,consultation rooms etc. There are 2 main
stairs and lift for up and down movement of the building. Proposed floor plan is included in
Appendix.
SL.No Title Details
I Total plinth area 9600m2
Ii Plinth area of ground floor 2400m2
Iii Plinth area of first floor 2400m2
Iv Height of building 13m
V Staircase 2 nos
Vi Lift 2 nos
Vii Two wheeler parking 50 nos
Viii Car parking 20 nos
Ix ICU 1 no
Table 4.1: Floor details of the building

4.1 Location
Fig 4.1:satellite view of proposed hospital
Fig 4.2 :Map of proposed site

CHAPTER 5
OCCURRENCE OF FIRE IN BUILDINGS
5.1 Chances of fire in the building

Mostly high rise buildings having less number of windows and doors also the internal structure
of this kind of buildings will accelerate the propagation of fire and smoke. High rise buildings are
designed to be fire-safe. But, because they may contain many people, and because of the building's
tremendous size, emergency response is challenging with significant potential for major incidents.
Due to equipment limitations, firefighters cannot rescue people from an outside balcony or window
above the fifth floor. Also, a roof top helicopter rescue is too dangerous. Firefighters must do interior
firefighting and rescue tactics.
5.2 Fire Science and Technology

Fire is the rapid oxidation of a material in the exothermic chemical process of combustion, that
is the process of burning .it is in fact a chemical reaction initiated by presence heat energy in which a
substance combines with oxygen in the air and the process is accompanied by emission of energy in
the form of heat, light, sound.
Fires start when a inflammable or a combustible material, in combination with a sufficient

quantity of an oxidizer such as oxygen gas or another oxygen-rich compound (though non-oxygen
oxidizers exist), is exposed to a source of heat or ambient temperature above the flash point for
the fuel/oxidizer mix, and is able to sustain a rate of rapid oxidation that produces a chain reaction.
This is commonly called the fire tetrahedron. Fire cannot exist without all of these elements in place
and in the right proportions. For example, an inflammable liquid will start burning only if the fuel and
oxygen are in the right proportions. Some fuel-oxygen mixes may require a catalyst, a substance that
is not consumed, when added, in any chemical reaction during combustion, but which enables the
reactants to combust more readily.
Absence of any of these three will result in extinguishing of fire when it is already burning.
For fires to happen all the three elements should be present. Combustion process gets completed when
there is sufficient source of heat continuously available to initiate and support the reaction. Some of
this heat is absorbed by fuel which gives of flammable vapour that in turn mixes with the oxygen
available in the atmosphere. This reaction in turn releases a further amount of heat associated with
light and sound energy. At this stage even if source of heat is removed, the fire will sustain.

5.3 Heat Energy transmission
Heat energy is transmitted by following three ways depending upon its type
• Fire Transmission by Conduction of Heat: Conduction of heat refers to the heat transfer
through a solid material. Contribution to the transmission of heat by conduction is less,
particularly at the initial stags of fire transmission.
Fig 5.1: fire expansion by conduction in heat resistant wall
 Fire Transmission by Convection of Heat: Transfer of heat through a fluid ( liquid or gas)
medium by its movement refers to convective heat transfer. The convection currents set up by
hot gases emitted from the burning building may be strong enough to lift and carry pieces of
solid burning material (flying brands). The flying bands can create secondary fires if the
surfaces of the receiving buildings have inferior fire characteristics with respect to ignitiability,
flame prevention and flame spread.
Fig 5.2:fire expansion in buildings by convection

 Fire Transmission by Radiation: Transfer of heat through a gas or vacuum other than by
heating of the intervening. The amount of heat radiated from the surface of a building depends
on a number of factors such as
 The degree of compartmentation within the building

 The fire load in each compartment
 The area of openings on external wall
Fig 5.3:expansion of fire by adjacent property through opening in ventillation by radiation

5.4 Development of Fire
All objects in the environment loos or gain heat. A fuel can be heated to a temperature below
its ignition temperature without the possibility of combustion taking place. In some cases, an
increase in temperature further to this will result in instantaneous combustion over the whole surface
of the fuel. This stage is called flash over. Rate of combustion is dependent on the ability of fuel and
oxygen to mix together in the appropriate proportion. Which depends upon the conditions of the
surrounding atmosphere. At one extreme the most rapid rate of combustion will give rise to an
explosion and slow rate will result in small point fire known as smouldering.
1.Incipient stage
A region where pre heating and gasification are in progress. Invisible pyrolysis products in the
form of gas and sub-micron size i.e.; aerosols are being generated and transported away from the
source by Brownian motion, diffusion, background air movement and sometimes a very weak
convective movement induced by the buoyancy of the pyrolysis products.

2. Smouldering stage
A region of fully developed pyrolysis which begins with ignition and includes the initial stage
of the combustion reaction. Invisible aerosol and visible smoke are being generated and carried away
by moderate convective movement and background air movement.
3. Flame stage
A region of fast reaction which covers the periods from initial occurrence of flame to a fully
developed fire.
1. Flame radiation: Radiant energy emitted by the flame is transmitted hemi spherically to a
distant location independently of the convection movement.
2. Convective heating: Convective heating becomes important only in the later phases of fire
development where large quantities have been released. Appreciable temperature rise at the ceiling
level is produced.
3. Heat stage: At this stage large amount of heat, flame, smoke and toxic gases are produced.
Development of fire after flash over has occurred in an enclosed space could be regarded as happening
in three phases.
 Ignition and temperature
 Fully developed fire
 Decay of fire
5.5 A temperature versus time graph of a typical fire
Standard curve approved by international standards organisation
Standard curve as provided in British standard
Fig 5.4 :temperature-time curve for a fire

5.6 SPREAD OF FIRE WITHIN THE BUILDING
Spread of fire within the building –from one compartment to another-happens primarily
through openings and voids. The geometry and construction of the compartment have significant
effect on the time taken to spread fire from one compartment to another.
Compartments in a building require openings in order to fulfill its functions for which
buildings are constructed. Different openings are required for different purposes namely,
 Doors
 Openings through walls
 Stairs, Lifts
 Openings through floors
 Openings for services
Unless these openings are fire tight -with fire resisting assemblies fitted with-,fire and product
of combustion may spread to the near by compartment, corridors, evacuation passages, etc.
Another mode of spread of fire within a building is through void spaces available in a building.
Void spaces are formed within a building
- While forming ventilation ducts

- While constructing decorative cladding on external walls
- While constructing false ceiling below floor
- While taking service lines, voids are formed around them.
These voids contain many a time combustible materials used for various purposes namely for
insulation, packing, etc. and they cause a rapid spread of fire within the building. Provision of fire
stoppers and use of non-combustible materials in voids will reduce the danged of fire spread through
openings.
Fire can spread to other parts of the buildings through flames emerging from windows. When
fire emerges from a window, it will try to hug the face of building and in some cases, it get sucked
into the open window. Shape, width and height of windows are important parameters influencing the
fire spread. When there are combustible materials near to the windows of floors above the fire affected
floor, they get ignited and fire spreads to these floors. Ideally, for fire safety, windows must be as
small as possible. Increasing either height or width increases the fire spread through windows.

5.7 Fully Developed Fire
When all the surfaces of the combustible materials in the enclosure are burning, the fire is
regarded as fully developed. This happens around 5000C in a building fire. During this phase high
amount of flaming occurs, a lot of heat is produced and major amount of combustible materials are
consumed. It is during this period when most of the structural elements are subjected to failure, this
endangering the collapse of building. During this period temperature rise is not as high as first phase.
It is seen that maximum temperature reached in this phase are 900 to 12000C the colour of fully
developed fire is blood red at 9000C and orange at 1000C. Any intensified fire reaching still higher
temperature of 1400*C will be white in colour. Because of the colour of fire in most of the building is
seen as red or orange. It is easy to resume, that the fires in the building usually at its maximum
temperature anything between 900 and 12000C.
The rate of burning in an enclosed space is given by the equation
Equation 5.1
Where,
R = rate of burning in kg/min.

A = area of window openings in sq. metres.
H = height of window in metres.
The duration of burning can be approximately calculated by
Equation 5.2
Where,
t = time in minutes
F = fuel load in kg
5.8 Fire Severity and Its Controlling Factors

Fire severity can be defined as “the condition of the fire which is related to its potential to
create maximum temperature duration of burning”. The damage caused to material is proportional to
fire severity. In case of buildings, the intensity of tire severity is dependent on
 nature of fuel;
 amount of fuel;

 arrangement of fuel;
 size and shape of room or compartment containing the fire;
 area and disposition of windows;
 thermal insulation of walls and ceilings;
 state of the atmosphere inside and outside the building i.e., availability of oxygen
5.9 Nature of Fuel

The combustible materials found in buildings will vary greatly in nature and composition. The
important feature for the present discussion is to see how much heat will be released on combustion
and how quickly this release takes place. The total amount of heat released depends on the nature of
material and is referred to as the calorific value of the material. However, different materials having
the same weight and same calorific value may behave differently in their properties like ease of
ignition, speed of burning, liberation of heat, etc. and create different hazardous condition. Based on
the above factors, materials are classified as No-Hazardous (NH), Hazardous (H) and Extra Hazardous
(EH).
Some process employ heat applied to materials under manufacture that may be combustible or
there may be considerable heat generated in the process of manufacture of materials, which are in
themselves liable to combustion. These materials are classified as abnormal occupancy group. These
materials are grouped into 9 groups as per IS: 1641 – 1960.
5.10 Amount of fuel load

The amount of combustibles present in a building is called the fire load. Fire load is one of the
important factors in deciding how severe the fire will be if one does occur in a building. Now, the fire
load density gives an idea about the total amount of heat that can be released from the compartment. It
is a common practice to express the fire load density in terms of wood equivalent. The calorific value
of different materials in terms of wood equivalent is presented in Part IV of N.B.C 1983 ( SP: 7).
Strictly speaking the fire load density in a building / compartment varies from time to time. For
example, the furniture and goods will move in and out of a building during the normal working hours.
Hence, it is difficult to assess the exact fire load in a building. A reasonably accurate fire load density
based on the type of occupation has been suggested in National Building Code ( Table 26 of NBC,
Part IV, fire protection).

5.11 Size and Shape of Windows
The size and shape of windows controls the air supply and loss of heat in a compartment and
thereby influences the fire severity. In general, all openings into a compartment, other than window
openings are required to be closed by fire resisting doors or shutters. Hence, it is generally assumed
that the air can reach a fire only through window openings. It is further assumed that any glazing
present in the window will fall at an early stage of the fire.
Two activities can occur through a window opening when a compartment is on fire. The cold
air enters through the lower level of the window and smoke and hot gases escape from the window
through the upper level.
Depending on the amount of air supply available to a fire, two kinds of fire behavior are
identified, namely ventilation controlled fire and fuel controlled fire
5.12 Thermal Insulation of Walls and Ceiling
A room or compartment bounded by walls and ceiling with materials having low thermal
conductivity will conserve the heat from the fire and hence causes a rapid increase of the fire
temperature. If the surface of the ceiling above the fire reaches a high temperature quickly, heat will
be re-radiated from this surface back in to the fire or nearby combustible materials and the fire
development will be rapid when compared to a case where there is no such rise in ceiling temperature.
If inside surfaces are lined with a material with low thermal conductivity, ceiling will get heated up
faster. On the other hand, if inside surfaces and ceiling can absorb and conduct heat, ceiling will not
get heated up quickly. This means that thermal insulation to walls and ceilings are to be carried out
carefully. The better positioning of a thermal insulator will be within the wall / ceiling panel and not
on the inside surface of a compartment / room.
5.13 Calculation of Fire Area
The maximum dimensions of a fire that can be successfully extinguished within the allowable
time is considered as the size of a single fire area. The time required to extinguish a fire depends on
several parameters and they can be represented as
Cal = f (Q, I, Acoma,, s , o) Equation 5.3

where
cal = Calculated time required to extinguish a fire (hours)
Q = Discharge (expenditure ) of fire extinguishment (l/s)

I = Application rate of the fire extinguishment (l/m2-s)
Acoma = Area of combustion surface (m2)
s = Standard fire extinguishment time with the given rate of application ( hours)
o = Period of free combustion prior to fire attack (hours)
The time required to extinguish a fire can be fixed based on two criteria
 Based on the minimum fire resistance rating of structural members

 The maximum loss permitted ( the shorter the duration of fire, the smaller is the loss from
it)
The first condition can be written
calLmin / ko Equation5.4
and the second condition can be written as
calall Equation5.5
where,
Lmn = Minimum fire resistance rating of structural members (hours)
cal = Calculated time required to extinguish a fire (hours)
ko = Coefficient of fire resistance ( Safety factor  1.1)
all = Time allowed to extinguish a fire by considering the maximum loss ( hours)
5.14 Room-Fire Growth

When an object in a room starts to burn for some time after ignition, it burns in much the same
way as it would in the open. After a short period of time, however, confinement begins to influence
fire development. The smoke produced by the burning object rises to form a hot gas layer below the
ceiling; this layer heats the ceiling and upper walls of the room. Thermal radiation from the hot layer,
ceiling, and upper walls begins to heat all objects in the lower part of the room and may augment both
the rate of burning of the original object and the rate of flame spread over its surface.

Fig 5.5:fire growth in a confined space
At this point, the fire may go out if, for example, the first object burns completely before
others start, or if sufficient oxygen cannot get into the room to keep the object burning. Sometimes,
however, the heating of the other combustibles in the room continues to the point where they reach
their ignition temperatures more or less simultaneously. If this occurs, flames suddenly sweep across
the room, involving most combustibles in the fire. This transition from the burning of one or two
objects to full room involvement is referred to as “flash over”.

CHAPTER 6
SOFTWARES USED
For this project we used the following software‟s:

 Auto CAD for the preparation of conceptual plan
 Autodesk revit for 3D modelling
 Pyrosim for demonstration of fire dynamic simulation
 Pathfinder for demonstration of evacuation
 MS Excel for graphical representation of output data‟s
 MS Office for report
6.1 AutoCAD
AutoCAD is a software application for 2D and 3D design and drafting. It enables a fast
powerful way of drafting and time consuming tasks can be done by the click of a button. Dimensions
can be keyed in instead of reading with a scale. CAD drawings can be saved for a long time without
the patches of time; it can be altered every now and then as we wish. The CAD drawings can be
interpolated with other software‟s for estimating, planning and designing. Advantages of using
AutoCAD are:
 Manipulates and modifies the design with ease.
 Store and save the files in a centralized database for the purpose of future calibration
and record keeping.
 Creates modern and complex buildings with much better design and functionality.
 Saves the cost and have the digital files ready anytime.
6.2 Autodesk Revit
Autodesk Revit is building information modeling software for architects, structural

engineers, ,designers and contractors developed by Autodesk. It allows users to design a building and
structure and its components in 3D, annotate the model with 2D drafting elements, and access building
information from the building model's database. The Revit work environment allows users to

manipulate whole buildings or assemblies (in the project environment) or individual 3D shapes (in the
family editor environment). Modeling tools can be used with pre-made solid objects or imported
geometric models There are many categories of objects ('families' in Revit terminology), which divide
into three groups:
 System Families, such as walls, floors, roofs and ceilings which are built inside a project
 Loadable Families / Components, which are built with primitives (extrusions, sweeps, etc.)
separately from the project and loaded into a project for use
 In-Place Families, which are built in-situ within a project with the same toolset as loadable
components
A user can create realistic and accurate families ranging from furniture to lighting fixtures, as
well as import existing models from other programs. Revit families can be created as parametric
models with dimensions and properties. This lets users modify a given component by changing
predefined parameters such as height, width or number in the case of an array. In this way
a family defines a geometry which is controlled by parameters, each combination of parameters can
be saved as a type, and each occurrence (instance in Revit) of a type can also contain further
variations.
Fig 6.1: 3d design of building

6.3 Pyrosim
PyroSim is a graphical user interface for the Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS). PyroSim helps
you quickly create and manage the details of complex fire models. PyroSim imports AutoCAD ,DXF
and DWG files. When PyroSim imports a DWG/DXF file, it will treat all 3D face data as obstructions
and all other data (lines, curves, etc.) as separate CAD data. The left image of the figure shows the
DWG file face data and the right image shows the grid representation that will be used in the FDS
analysis. Alternately, a drawing in GIF, JPG, or PNG format can be imported and then used as a
background to help you rapidly draw your model directly over the image. PyroSim includes tools to
help you create and validate multiple meshes. Multiple meshes allow you to: use parallel processing to
speed the solution, conform yours meshes to the geometry to reduce the number of cells and solution
time, and change the resolution of different meshes to focus of regions of interest. PyroSim includes
support to launch a parallel simulation using MPI. For a single machine with multiple cores or CPUs,
parallel processing is an integrated tool and all details are managed for you. All you need to do is
define multiple meshes and then select Run FDS Parallel from the solution menu. PyroSim can also be
upgraded to run an FDS simulation on a network cluster of multiple computers. Before launching a
cluster simulation from within PyroSim, the node installer is installed on each computer that will
participate. You will now be able to run the simulation on any number of computers.
6.2.a

6.2.b
Fig 6.2.a,b: Pyrosim Design model
6.4 Pathfinder
Pathfinder is an emergency egress simulator that includes an integrated user interface and
animated 3D results. Pathfinder allows you to evaluate evacuation models more quickly and produce
more realistic graphics than with other simulators. Pathfinder provides support for the import of
AutoCAD format DXF and DWG files. Pathfinder‟s floor extraction tool makes it possible to quickly
use the imported geometry to define the occupant walking space for the evacuation model. PyroSim or
Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS) models can also be used to extract the walking space. If you have a
blueprint, it can be imported in GIF, JPG, or PNG format and then used as a background to help you
rapidly draw your model directly over the image.
Pathfinder uses a 3D triangulated mesh to represent the model geometry. As a result,

Pathfinder can accurately represent geometric details and curves. Triangulation also facilitates
continuous movement of persons throughout the model, compared to other simulators that subdivide
the space into cells that can artificially constrain the movement of occupants.
Pathfinder supports two simulation modes. In Steering mode, agents proceed independently to
their goal, while avoiding other occupants and obstacles. Door flow rates are not specified but result
from the interaction of occupants with each other and with boundaries. In SFPE mode, agents use
behaviours that follow SFPE guidelines, with density-dependent walking speeds and flow limits to
doors. SFPE results provide a useful baseline for comparison with other results, but SFPE calculations
do not prevent multiple persons occupying the same space. Optionally, Pathfinder allows you to
specify door flow rates in steering mode to obtain superior visualization in a constrained model. You
can freely switch between modes in the Pathfinder.
Fig 6.3.a
Fig 6.3.b
Fig 6.3. a,b: Evacuation model by Pathfinder

CHAPTER 7
DESIGN PROCEDURES
7.1 3D Model
The primary step of this project is to design the building structure. The main tools used for the
design process are AutoCAD 2010, Autodesk revit2015 and Pyrosim. The 2D drawings are completed
using AutoCAD, which is imported to Autodesk revit for making a 3D design. The designed 3D
structure is exported to DWG format. For the simulation purpose the DWG file is imported to
pyrosim.
Pyrosim is an advanced graphical user interface for FDS and we can use facilitate preparation
of inputs for FDS simulation. Pyrosim was developed by Thunderhead Engineerring consultant,
Inc.(USA). The main functions of pyrosim cover an interactive creation of complex models (the use of
ground plans, creation of multiple repetitious objects, curved walls.).Pyrosim enables importing a
ground plan, saving it as a background image and displaying it in its 2D or 3D view modes . The
background image scale can be modified to correspond to the computational mesh chosen for
intentend FDS simulation. This feature of pyrosim greatly facilitates the creation of geometry of
complicated models.
7.2 Pyrosim interface
PyroSim provides four editors for your fire model: the 3D View, 2D View, Navigation View,
and the Record View. These all represent your current model. If an object is added, removed, or
selected in one view, the other views will simultaneously reflect the change. Each view is briefly
described below.
• Navigation View: This view lists many of the important records in the model. It allows you
to organize your model geometry into groups such as room or sofa. Locating and modifying records is
often faster and easier in this view.
• 3D View: This view shows a 3D representation of your current fire model. You can explore
the model using different view controls. You can also control the appearance of the model with
options like smooth shading, textures, and object outlines. Geometric features can also be changed.
• 2D View: This view is useful for quickly sketching geometry such as walls and furniture.
You can choose from three viewing planes and perform many useful geometric manipulations.
• Record View: This view gives a preview of the FDS input file that will be generated for the
simulation. It also provides a way to add custom records that will not be processed by PyroSim, but
will be sent to FDS.

7.3 Computational Meshes And Domain

A computational mesh of 720×216×27 cells was used. Thus, the cells were almost cubic with
dimensions of 0.1*0.1*0.1 m3. There are horizontal and vertical sections that illustrate the cells of the
computational mesh. As can we seen, the meshes used was very fine. Thus, the mesh was capable of
capturing the features of flow and thermal fields .
7.4 Boundary Conditions

Conserning the flow field no penetration and no slip conditions are applied on the solid
surfaces. Flow speed is determined at the openings / vents. All solid surfaces are assigned thermal
boundary conditions, plus information about the burning behaviour of material. Heat and mass transfer
to and from solid surfaces are handled with empirical correlations. Also material properties of solids
may be prescribed as a function of temperature. For all the present building cases, the fire power was
set suitable to such application.
7.5 Walls Creation

Walls were created gradually using plan. We can set the height of room, wall thickeness and
suitable values of wall colour.
7.6 Major Input Data’s

The major input data for the simulation are material data, surface data, ignition source,
simulation parameters.
7.6.1 Material Data

Material data mainly contains data's such as material ID, material type (solid/liquid fuel),
density, specific heat, conductivity, emissivity, absorption coefficient and heat of combustion. Surface
material, thermal properties of the materials, and material type such as or solid…etc. Also, data's such
as heat release rate, specific heat, conductivity, emissivity, absorption coefficient are coming under
material data. In this paper we use materials such as foam, gypsum and concrete etc.

DATA DENSITY SPECIFIC CONDUCTIVIY EMISSIVITY ABSORBTION COMBUSTION

(kg/m3) HEAT (W/MK) COEFFICIENT (KJ/KG)
MATERIAL (KJ/kg k) (1/M)
FOAM 40 1.0 0.05 0.9 5.0E4 18.1
WOOD 540 0.12 0.9 5.0E4 1.63E4
GLASS 2400 0.85 1.05 0.9 5.0E4 -
FIRE BRICK 750 1.04 - 0.8 5.0E4 -
1.4
COTTON 420 0.03 0.77 5.0E4 -
-
CONCRETE 2280 1.04 1.8 0.9 5.0E4
-
GYPSUM 930 1.09 0.17 0.9 5.0E4
Table 7.1: Material Data
7.6.2 Surface Data

Surface data is derived from material data. Which mainly contains surface ID, colour and
appearance, surface type (whether adiabatic, inert, burner, hearer/cooler, supply, exhaust, layered or
air leak). We chose the theatre chair as the initial ignition source for that we have to define upholstery
in surface data. Upholstery is layered surface with foam material. Wall is also layered with gypsum
material.

DATA MATERIAL HRRPUA IGNITION RAMP UP

COMPOSITION (KW/M2) TEMPERATURE TIME
O
SURFACE ( C) (seconds)
BED 0.5 wood and 500 130 35

0.5 cotton
WOOD 1.0 wood 740 360 55
WALL 1.0 fire brick - - -
CONCRETE 1.0 concrete - - -
GLASS 1.0 glass - - -
Table 7.2 :Surface Data
7.6.3 Ignition Source

The first ignition source is defined by giving Heat Release Rate per Unit Area (HRRPUA),
Ramp-Up time (Tanh or t2) and surface type. The surface type used in the ignition source is burner. In
this paper HRRPUA of the ignition source is taken as 5000kW/m2.
7.6.4 Simulation Parameters

In simulation parameters we define simulation starting time as 0 seconds and ending time as
30, 60, 120 seconds. And boundary conditions as ambient temperature-32ºC, ambient pressure-
1.01325E5 Pa, relative humidity-44%, and specific gravity-9.8 m/s2 and wall as default surface type
of mesh.

Fig 7.3:Procedure for simulation
7.7 Simulation
The primary step in simulation procedure is creating the basic elements (obstructions, holes
and vents), which represent the input FDS geometry of objects appearing in the building, and their
combinations, such as the draw an obstruction, draw a hole, draw a wall, draw a black, draw a block
hole, draw a vent, draw a room. In order to demonstrate the use of Pyrosim for FDS simulation of the
building, we used Autodesk revit to make a 3D model of the selected building containing several
complex construction elements.
7.8 FDS Concepts and Nomenclature

7.8.1 Material
To simulate a surface made of heat-conducting solids or a fuel you must specify a material that
describes certain thermal properties and pyrolysis behavior. PyroSim offers two categories of
materials: solid materials and liquid fuels. To create a new material, you can use the Edit Materials
dialog. On the Model menu, click Edit Materials and select according to your choice.
7.8.2 Surface
Surfaces are used to define the properties of solid objects and vents in your FDS model. The
surface can use previously defined materials in mixtures or layers. By default, all solid objects and
vents are inert, with a temperature that is fixed at the ambient temperature (set in the Simulation
Parameters dialog). In addition to defining heat conduction in a solid, surfaces can also be used to

define a burner, specify the ignition temperature for an object, give a vent a supply velocity, and set
the many other properties supported by FDS.
7.8.3 Obstruction
Obstructions are the fundamental geometric representation in FDS. In FDS, obstructions are
rectangular, axis-aligned solids defined by two points. Surface properties are assigned to each face of
the obstruction. In PyroSim, obstructions can take any shape, have any number of faces, and have
different surfaces applied to each face. At the time of simulation, PyroSim will automatically convert
the obstructions to axis-aligned blocks required by FDS.
FDS defines two types of obstructions:
 Solid Obstructions –obstructions that are at least one grid cell thick in all dimensions. FDS
allows heat transfer calculations only on these types of obstructions.
 Thin Obstructions –obstructions that have zero thickness in one dimension. These
obstructions are mainly used to prevent flow.
7.8.4 Vent
Vents have general usage in FDS to describe 2D planar objects. Taken literally, a vent can be
used to model components of the ventilation system in a building, like a diffuser or a return. In these
cases, the vent coordinates define a plane forming the boundary of the duct. No holes need to be
created; air is supplied or exhausted by the vent. You can also use vents as a means of applying a
particular boundary condition to a rectangular patch on a surface. A fire, for example, can be created
by specifying a vent on either a mesh boundary or solid surface. The vent surface defines the desired
characteristics of fire.
7.8.5 Computational Mesh
FDS calculations are performed within a domain made of rectilinear volumes called meshes.
Each mesh is divided into rectangular cells. Two factors that must be considered when choosing the
cell size are the required resolution to define objects in the model (obstructions) and the desired
resolution for the flow dynamics solution (including local fire induced effects). Although geometric
objects (obstructions) in an FDS analysis can be specified using dimensions that do not fall on cell
coordinates, during the FDS solution, all faces of an obstruction are shifted to the closest cell. If an
obstruction is very thin, the two faces may be approximated on the same cell face. The FDS Users
Guide [McGrattan, Klein, Hostikka, and Floyd, 2009] recommends that, for full
functionality,obstructions should be specified to be at least one cell thick. As a result, the cell size
must be selected small enough to reasonably represent the problem geometry. Whether the cell size is
sufficient to resolve the flow dynamics solution can only be determined by a grid sensitivity study.

CHAPTER 8
SIMULATION PROCEDURES
8.1 Create the Mesh

In this step we will use computational rectilinear mesh of cells 720×216×27 for
getting almost cubic cells with dimension 0.1×0.1.×0.1 m3. As a rule of thumb, this is as
small as the mesh cells can be while still maintaining a moderate level of accuracy in
modelling the plume. Using mesh cells that are smaller by a factor of 2 should decrease error
by a factor of 4, but will increase the simulation run time by a factor of 16. All FDS
calculations are performed within computational meshes. Every object in the simulation (e.g.
obstructions and vents) must conform to the mesh. When an object‟s location doesn‟t exactly
conform to a mesh, the object is automatically repositioned during the simulation. Any object
that extends beyond the boundary of the physical domain is cut off at the boundary. There is
no penalty for defining objects outside of the domain, but these objects do not appear in
Smoke view. To achieve optimal simulation accuracy, it is important to use mesh cells that
are approximately the same size in all three directions.
FDS uses a Poisson solver based on Fast Fourier Transforms (FFTs). A side effect of
this approach is that optimal mesh divisions are constrained to the form 2u 3v 5w, where u, v
and w are integers. For example, 64 = 26, 72 = 23 * 32, and 108 = 22 * 33 are good mesh
dimensions. However, 37, 99 and 109 are not. In addition, using a prime number of cells
along an axis may cause undesirable results. Pyrosim warns when the number of divisions is
not optimal.
1. On the Model menu, click Edit Meshes.

2. Click New.
3. Accept the default name MESH. Click OK.
4. Edit the number mesh cells to get desired cell size.
5. Add co-ordinate data‟s (x, y & z) to place the mesh in particular location.

Fig 8.1: Creating Mesh
8.2 Add a Thermocouple

Thermo couple is a temperature measuring device. In the simulation themocouples are
placed at different locations to find out variation in temperature. The output of the
thermocouple is the temperature of the thermocouple itself, which is usually close to the gas
temperature, but not always, since radiation is included in the calculation of thermocouple
temperature.
1. On the Devices menu, click New Thermocouple.
2. In the Device Name box, type thermocouple at required distances.
3. On the Location row, in the Z box, type the required distance.
4. Click OK to create the thermocouple. It will appear as a dot in the centre of the
model.

8.3 Add a Temperature Slice Plane

Slices or slice planes measure gas-phase data (e.g. pressure, velocity, temperature) on
an axis-aligned plane. This data can then be animated and displayed using Smoke view.
1. On the Output menu, click Slices.
2. In the XYZ Plane column, click the cell and select Y.
3. In the Plane Value column, click the cell and type required values.
4. In the Gas Phase Quantity column, click the cell and select Temperature.
5. in the Use Vector Column, click the cell and select NO.
6. Click OK to create the slice plane. Click the Show Slices button to toggle the slice
planes.
8.4 Create the Burner Surface

Some surface properties are converted with no additional input or warnings, including
surface names, colours, and textures. The different surface types, however, undergo more
complicated conversions. The following describes how Pyrosim 2006 surface types are
converted to Surfaces and Materials in Pyrosim:
 Inert and Adiabatic - converted directly.
 Burner Fire - converted to a Burner Surface.
 Fan/Wind - converted to a Supply surface if the air flow is negative, an Exhaust

surface, otherwise.
 Flammable Solid of Fixed Temperature or Heat Flux - converted to a Heater/Cooler

surface.
 Thermally Thick/Thin Flammable Solid - converted to a Layered Surface with one

single-step reacting Material.
 Flammable Solid (Constant HRR) of Fixed Temperature or Heat Flux - converted to a

burner.
 Thermally Thick/Thin Flammable Solid (Constant HRR) - converted to a Layered

Surface with one non-reacting Material. The reaction is controlled at the surface.

 Non-Flammable Solid of Fixed Temperature or Heat Flux - converted to a

Heater/Cooler. Thermally Thick/Thin Non-Flammable Solid - converted to a Layered
Surface with one non-reacting Material.
 Liquid Fuel - converted to a Layered Surface with one Liquid Fuel Material.
 Charring Fuel - converted to a Layered Surface with one layer. The layer is composed
of a water and a virgin material. The virgin material undergoes one reaction where
half of it is converted to fuel and the other half is converted to the charring material
specified in the original surface. This ratio may need to be adjusted after conversion.
 Liquid Thermoplastic - converted to a Layered Surface with one Liquid Fuel Material.
 Charring Thermoplastic - converted to a Layered Surface with one single-step

reacting Material.
Surfaces are used to define the properties of solid objects and vents in your FDS model.
The surface can use previously defined materials in mixtures or layers. By default, all solid
objects and vents are inert, with a temperature that is fixed at the ambient temperature (set in
the Simulation Parameters dialog. In addition to defining heat conduction in a solid, surfaces
can also be used to define a burner, specify the ignition temperature for an object, give a vent
a supply velocity, and set the many other properties supported by FDS.
Surfaces are used to define the properties of objects in your FDS model. In this example,
we define a burner surface that releases heat at a rate of 1000, 3000, 5000kW/m2.
1. On the Model menu, click Edit Surfaces.
2. Click New.
3. In the Surface Name box, type burner,
4. In the Surface Type list, select Burner.
5. Click OK to create the new default burner surface.
6. In the Min Y box, and in the Max Y box,
7. Click OK to create the new burner vent.

Fig 8.2: creating burner
8.5 Burner Fire
In this step we will create a 1000, 3000, 5000 kW burner fires and measure the
temperature in the centre of the plume.
This step involves the following procedures
• Create a burner fire.
• Add a thermocouple.
• Add a slice plane for temperature visualization.
• View 3D results using Smoke view.
• View 2D results using Pyrosim.
Fig 8.3 : Burner fire
8.6 Create the Burner Vent

In this parameter we use a vent and the previously created burner surface to define the
fire. Recall that, in FDS, a "vent" can be a 2D surface used to apply boundary conditions on a
rectangular.
1. On the Model menu, click New Vent.

2. In the Description box, type burner vent.

3. In the Surface list, select burner. This specifies that the previously created burner
surface will define the properties of the vent.
4. Click on the Geometry tab. In the Plane list, select Z.
5. In the Min X box, type values and in the Max X box, type the required values.
6. In the Min Y box, type values and in the Max Y box, type the required values.
7. Click OK to create the new burner vent.
Fig 8.4:creating burner surface
8.7 Create the Top Vent

Vents have general usage in FDS to describe a 2D rectangular patch on the surface of
a solid obstruction or on a mesh boundary. A vent may have a different surface applied to it
than the rest of the obstruction to which it is attached.
The top of the mesh is an open boundary.
1. On the Model menu, click New Vent.
2. In the Description box.

3. In the Surface list, select OPEN. This is a default surface that means this will be an
open Boundary.
4. Click on the Geometry tab. In the Plane list, select Z
5. In the Min X box, and in the Max X box.
6. In the Min Y box, and in the Max Y box.
7. Click OK to create the open vent.
8.8 Set the Simulation Time

1. On the FDS menu, click Simulation Parameters.
2. On the Time panel, in the End Time box.
3. Click OK to save the simulation parameters.
8.9 Save the Model

1. On the File menu, click Save.
2. Choose a location to save the model. Because FDS simulations generate many files
and a large amount of data, it is a good idea to use a new folder for each simulation.
For this example, we will create a Burner folder and name the file burner.psm.
3. Click OK to save the model.
8.10 Run the Simulation

1. On the FDS menu, click Run FDS.
2. Save the FDS input file with the name burner.fds
3. Click Save to save the FDS input file and begin the simulation.
4. The FDS Simulation dialog will appear and display the progress of the simulation.
By default, Pyrosim specifies 60,120,180 second simulation. This should take
approximately one minute to run depending on computing hardware,
5. When the simulation is complete, Smoke view will start and display a 3D still
image of the model.

Fig 8.5: Simulation
8.11 FDS codes of entire building
MESH ID='Mesh03', IJK=40,125,35, XB=537.68,552.3,-456.47,-410.64,-0.15,12.8/
&REAC ID='POLYURETHANE',
FYI='NFPA Babrauskas',
FUEL='REAC_FUEL',
C=6.3,
H=7.1,
O=2.1,
N=1.0,
SOOT_YIELD=0.1/
&DEVC ID='THCP', QUANTITY='THERMOCOUPLE', XYZ=550.0,-433.0,4.8/
&DEVC ID='THCP01', QUANTITY='THERMOCOUPLE', XYZ=550.0,-454.0,4.5/

&MATL ID='FIRE BRICK',
FYI='NBSIR 88-3752 - NBS Multi-Room Validation',
SPECIFIC_HEAT=1.04,
CONDUCTIVITY_RAMP='FIRE BRICK_CONDUCTIVITY_RAMP',
DENSITY=750.0,
EMISSIVITY=0.8/
&RAMP ID='FIRE BRICK_CONDUCTIVITY_RAMP', T=20.0, F=0.36/
&MATL ID='CONCRETE',
FYI='NBSIR 88-3752 - ATF NIST Multi-Floor Validation',
SPECIFIC_HEAT=1.04,

CONDUCTIVITY=1.8,
DENSITY=2280.0/
&MATL ID='glazz',
FYI='glass',
SPECIFIC_HEAT=0.84,
CONDUCTIVITY=0.18,
DENSITY=2000.0/
&MATL ID='cotton',
FYI='cotton',
SPECIFIC_HEAT=1.4,
CONDUCTIVITY=0.03,
DENSITY=420.0,
EMISSIVITY=0.77/
&MATL ID='YELLOW PINE',
FYI='Quintiere, Fire Behavior - NIST NRC Validation',
SPECIFIC_HEAT=2.85,
CONDUCTIVITY=0.14,
DENSITY=640.0/
&MATL ID='wood',
SPECIFIC_HEAT=1.0,
CONDUCTIVITY=0.12,
DENSITY=540.0,
HEAT_OF_COMBUSTION=18.1/

&SURF ID='wall',
RGB=146.0,202.0,166.0,
BACKING='VOID',
MATL_ID(1,1)='FIRE BRICK',
MATL_MASS_FRACTION(1,1)=1.0,
THICKNESS(1)=0.02/
&SURF ID='concrete',
RGB=146.0,202.0,166.0,
BACKING='VOID',
MATL_ID(1,1)='CONCRETE',
THICKNESS(1)=0.02/
&SURF ID='glass',
RGB=146.0,202.0,166.0,
BACKING='VOID',
MATL_ID(1,1)='glazz',
THICKNESS(1)=0.01/
&SURF ID='bed',
FYI='bed',
RGB=255.0,167.0,226.0,
HRRPUA=500.0,
IGNITION_TEMPERATURE=130.0,

BACKING='VOID',
MATL_ID(1,1:2)='cotton','YELLOW PINE',
MATL_MASS_FRACTION(1,1:2)=0.5,0.5,
THICKNESS(1)=0.009/
&SURF ID='burner',
RGB=234.0,48.0,27.0,
HRRPUA=3000.0/
&SURF ID='wood',
RGB=146.0,202.0,166.0,
HRRPUA=740.0,
TAU_Q=-55.0,
IGNITION_TEMPERATURE=360.0,
BURN_AWAY=.TRUE.,
BACKING='VOID',
MATL_ID(1,1)='wood',
THICKNESS(1)=0.055/
&OBST ID='Obstruction', XB=548.494,549.221,-449.38,-449.01,3.2,3.45,

SURF_ID='wood'/
&VENT ID='Vent02', SURF_ID='burner', XB=549.2,550.2,-455.1,-454.1,3.8,3.8/ burner
&SLCF QUANTITY='TEMPERATURE', PBX=550.0/
&SLCF QUANTITY='TEMPERATURE', PBY=-454.0/
&SLCF QUANTITY='TEMPERATURE', PBZ=3.5/

CHAPTER 9
EVACUATION
9.1 Pathfinder
Pathfinder is used for evacuation modeling.The DWG file of building made in
Autodesk revit is imported for evacuation modeling.Pathfinder is an agent based egress and
human movement simulator. It provides a graphical user interface for simulation design and
execution as well as 2D and 3D visualization tools for results analysis.Pathfinder includes a
graphical user interface that is used primarily to create and run simulation models. A
screenshot of this user interface is shown in Figure 9.1.
Fig 9.1: User interface of pathfinder
Pathfinder also includes a second program designed specifically for high-performance

visualization of 3D time history. The 3D Results program is shown in Figure 9.2. In this
image, occupants are gathering at a refuge area before proceeding to elevators. Transparency
has been used to help view occupants on the refuge floor.In addition to 3D visualization,
Pathfinder also provides output in the form of 2D time history plots of CSV (comma
separated values) out files and a text summary of room clearing times and doorway flow
rates.This plot shows the number of occupants in the refuge area and the total number of
occupants in the building.

9.2 Model representation

The movement environment is a 3D triangulated mesh designed to match the real
dimensions of a building model. This movement mesh can be entered manually or
automatically based on imported data (e.g. FDS geometry). Walls and other impassable areas
are represented as gaps in the navigation mesh. These objects are not actually passed along to
the simulator, but are represented implicitly because occupants cannot move in places where
no navigation mesh has been created.
Fig 9.2:Triangulated navigational mesh

Doors are represented as special navigation mesh edges. In all simulations, doors
provide a mechanism for joining rooms and tracking occupant flow. Depending on the
specific selection of simulation options, doors may also be used to explicitly control occupant
flow. Stairways are also represented as special navigation mesh edges and triangles.
Occupant movement speed is reduced to a factor of their level travel speed based on the
incline of the stairway. Each stairway implicitly defines two doors. These doors function just
like any other door in the simulator but are controlled via the stairway editor in the user
interface to ensure that no geometric errors result from a mismatch between stairways and the
connecting doors.
Each occupant is defined by position, a profile that specifies size, speed, etc., and a
behavior that defines goals for the occupant. The behavior allows scripting so that, for

example, an occupant may wait at a location for a specified time and then proceed to an
elevator. The occupant is represented as an upright cylinder on the movement mesh and
movement uses an agent-based technique called inverse steering. Each occupant calculates
movements independently.
9.3 Simulation modes

Pathfinder supports two movement simulation modes. In "Steering" mode, occupants
use a steering system to move and interact with others. This mode tries to emulate human
behavior and movement as much as possible. SFPE mode uses a set of assumptions and hand-
calculations as defined in the “Engineering Guide to Human Behavior in Fire (SFPE, 2003)”.
In SFPE mode, occupants make no attempt to avoid one another and are allowed to
interpenetrate, but doors impose a flow limit and velocity is controlled by density. You can
freely switch between the two modes within the Pathfinder user interface and compare
answers.
9.4 Pathfinder views

Pathfinder provides three main views for working on evacuation models: the 2D View,
3D View, and Navigation View. These views represent your current model. If an object is
added, removed, or selected in one view, the other views will simultaneously reflect the
change. Each view is briefly described below.
 Navigation View: This view lists all objects in the model in a hierarchical format. It
can be used to quickly locate and modify objects by name.
 3D View: This view shows a 3D representation of the current model. The model can
be explored and modified using various tools.
 2D View: This view is very similar to the 3D View, but it provides an additional
snapping grid and an orthographic view of the model.
9.5 Creating occupants

In Pathfinder, occupants are defined in two parts: profiles and behaviors. The profile
defines fixed characteristics of the occupants, such as maximum speed, radius, avatar, and
color. The behavior defines a sequence of actions the occupant will take throughout the
simulation, such as moving to a room, waiting, and then exiting.

9.6 Profiles
Pathfinder uses an occupant profile system to manage distributions of parameters
across groups of occupants. This system helps you control the occupant speed, size, and
visual distributions. To edit occupant profiles, you can use the Edit Profiles dialog.
To open the Edit Profiles dialog: on the Model menu, click Edit Profiles.
Fig 9.3:The edit profiles dialog

The 3D Model input provides a way to use a specific set of 3D human models for an
occupant profile. To select 3D models, click Edit... on the 3D Model row. This will open the
3D Models dialog (see Figure 5:2). When rendering occupants as 3D human models
belonging to the current profile, Pathfinder will choose one of the 3D models selected in the
3D Model dialog. To enable or disable a particular model, click the model's icon. If the
<hidden>choice is selected, no 3D Model will be shown for the occupant.

Fig 9.4:The 3d model dialog
The Characteristics tab provides the following parameters:

 Priority Level: the priority of the occupant. Higher values indicate higher priority.
This allows occupants of lower priority to move out of the way of those of higher
priority. This would be useful when simulating first responders that must be able to
move easily through a crowd of occupants. Priority values are completely relative. For
instance, if three occupants meet of priorities 4, 6, and 12, they will behave the same
as if their priorities were 0, 1, and 2, respectively.
 Speed: specifies the maximum speed an occupant may travel in an open room with
speed modifier set to 1.0.
 Shape: The shape of the occupant. To change the shape, click the link, which will
open the Shape dialog as shown in Figure 5:3. An occupant‟s shape can either be a
cylinder or a vehicle shape. In the case of a Cylinder, Shoulder Width and Height can
be specified. Shoulder Width is the diameter of the cylinder representing the

occupant. It is used for collision testing and path planning during the simulation. This
value will also affect how many occupants can be added to a room without
overlapping. Height specifies the height of the cylinder used for inter-occupant
collisions. This is useful for limiting collisions that might occur between occupants on
different floors when the floors have been modeled close together.
The Movement tab provides parameters related to how occupants use their surroundings:
 Initial Orientation: specifies a degree from the positive x-axis counter-clockwise
which the occupants will use as their orientation in the beginning of the simulation.
 Requires Assistance to Move: specifies whether the occupant requires assistance from
another occupant in order to move. This is useful when modeling assisted evacuation
as described in Assisted Evacuation on page 79. This option is recommended for
occupants that are unable to move under their own power (e.g. in a bed or other
carrying device).
 Use Stairs: whether the occupant can use stairs when moving one from one location to
another. This may be useful to model occupants with physical impairments.
 Ignore One-way Door Restrictions: whether the occupant will ignore the direction
specified for one-way doors. If this is unchecked, the occupant will only travel in the
direction indicated for the door. If this is checked, the occupant may go either way
through any door.
 Walk on Escalators: whether the occupant will walk on escalators and moving
walkways. If this is checked, the escalator‟s speed constant will be added to the
occupant‟s desired speed on the stair to determine the occupant‟s final speed. If
unchecked, the occupant will stand still and travel on the stair at the stair‟s speed
constant.
The Door Choice tab provides parameters related to how occupants choose doors to exit from
in each room.
1. Current Room Travel Time: a cost factor that affects the cost of travelling to a door in
the occupant‟s current room, ignoring all other occupants. Higher values increase the
door‟s cost in this category, making the Current Room Travel Time relatively more
important.

2. Current Room Queue Time: a cost factor that affects the cost of waiting in a queue at
a door in the occupant‟s current room. Higher values increase the door‟s cost in this
category, making the Current Room Queue Time relatively more important.
3. Global Travel Time: a cost factor that affects the cost of travelling from a door to an
exit or the occupant‟s next goal, ignoring all other occupants. Higher values increase
the door‟s cost in this category, making the Global Travel Time relatively more
important.
4. Current Door Preference: a value used to make occupants stick to their currently
chosen doors, preventing excessive door switching. A value of 100% will cause
occupants to never switch doors once an initial door is chosen, and a value of 0% will
allow occupants to freely change their selected doors.
5. Current Room Distance Penalty: this value is used to exponentially increase the cost
associated with travelling based on how far the occupant has travelled in the current
room. This causes the occupant to prefer shorter routes over faster routes the further
they have travelled in the current room. Every time the occupant travels this distance
in the current room, the travel time cost will have doubled. Setting this value to zero
will disable this feature.
9.7 Behaviours
Behaviors in Pathfinder represent a sequence of actions the occupant will take
throughout the simulation. Once they occupant has completed all actions, they are removed
from the simulation. Actions may be added that can make the occupant wait or travel to a
destination, such as a room, point, or exit. The last destination for the occupant can be
thought of as the occupant‟s sink. By default, there is one behavior in the model called “Goto
Any Exit.” This behavior simply makes the occupant move from their starting position to any
exit present in the model by the fastest route. As with profiles, any number of occupants can
refer to a single behavior. Any changes to the behavior will be reflected in referring occupants.
Additional actions can be added to any behavior, such as going to a room, a waypoint,
an elevator, or simply waiting in place. To add an action, select a behavior or existing
behavior action. The property panel will show a drop-down button with the description of an
action that can be added. To add the currently shown action, simply click the button. To add a
different action, click the down-arrow shown to the right of the button and select the desired
action from the behavior actions list.

Fig:9.5 behavior actions panel
A Goto Waypoint action specifies that an occupant should go toward a specific point
on the navigation mesh. Once they arrive within a certain radius of the point, they will move
on to the next action in their behavior.
A Goto Rooms action specifies that an occupant must select a room out of a set, and
go to it. Once they cross a door into the room, they are considered to be in the room and can
move on to the next action in their behavior. If multiple rooms are specified for the action,
the occupant will go to the one that is fastest to reach.
A Wait action tells an occupant to wait in their current location for a certain amount of time.
Once that time has elapsed they will begin their next action. The manner in which they wait will vary
depending on their most recent destination. For instance, if their previous destination was a waypoint,
they will try to stay close to the center of the waypoint. If the previous destination was a room, they
will try to move toward the furthest point in the room away from all active doors1. This allows
other occupants to enter the room. If their previous destination is an elevator, they will first
move toward the walls as in waiting in a room, and then stand still when the elevator travels.
In all cases, a waiting occupant will move out of the way of occupants headed toward a
destination unless the destination overlaps with the waiting occupant‟s most recent
destination.
The goto action causes an agent to take the fastest route to a set of exits. Like the
Goto Refuge Rooms action, this action must be last in the behavior. Once an agent goes
through an exit, they are removed from the simulation and reported as having exited the
model.

9.8 Generating occupants

Occupants can be added to the simulation in a number of ways. The simulation can
either be pre-seeded with any number of occupants or it can have occupants continuously
generated by occupant sources. When pre-seeding the model, occupants can be placed
individually in the 3D or 2D view, distributed in a rectangular region of a particular room, or
distributed throughout the entire area of a room.
Individual occupants can be added to the model with the Add Occupant tool,
Occupants can only be placed in pre-existing rooms, stairs, and ramps and cannot overlap
other occupants or room boundaries. Left-click a desired position with the mouse, or enter an
x-y-z coordinate and press the Create button from the property panel to place an occupant.
Groups of occupants can be added to the model with the Add Occupant Group tool. The
occupants are distributed throughout this region using parameters in the property panel.
Fig 9.6:Editing the distribution of profiles
9.9 Assisted Evacuation

Pathfinder supports assisted evacuation scenarios, in which some occupants may
assist other occupants. This is particularly useful in hospital evacuations and other scenarios
where there may be some disabled occupants who need help for at least part of their journey.
The following is some terminology used in Pathfinder:
6. Assistant: An occupant who helps other occupants.
7. Client: An occupant who is helped by assistants.
8. Team: A group of assistants. Each assistant can only be on one team at a time but can
switch to another team at a later time. Each client can be assisted by any number of
teams at one time.

Assisted evacuation is supported through the behavior system of Pathfinder, allowing a wide
range of scenarios to be investigated. Some possibilities include:
9. Assistants help clients through their entire evacuation, allowing the client to visit
multiple intermediate waypoints or rooms or wait at a location while being assisted.
10. Assistants help clients for only part of their evacuation, such as an occupant in a
wheelchair who only needs assistance to descend stairs.
11. Assistants help in stages. For example, one team of assistants moves clients to one
location and then another team moves the occupants to another location.
For assistants, the following occurs:

1. An occupant joins a team as described on page 80 and becomes an assistant.
2. The assistant checks whether there are any current occupants or future occupants from
an occupant source who will ever become clients of this team. If this condition holds
true, the assistant continues to step 3. Otherwise, the assistant skips the following
steps, leaves the team, and continues with their next behavior action.
3. The assistant enters an idle state and waits for clients to request assistance from the
team.
4. The assistant chooses a single client who can be reached from the assistant‟s current
location and meets one of the following criteria:
a. The client has more assistants attached than any others
b. No other client meets criterion a, the client is in the team‟s priority list, and the
client has the highest priority.
c. No other client meets criteria a orb, and the client is closer than any others.
5. The assistant offers to assist the selected client. If the client rejects the offer, the
assistant repeats steps 4 and 5. The client may reject if they have received more offers
at once than they had remaining attached positions.
6. The assistant heads toward the chosen client. Once the client is reached, the assistant
attaches to the client in one of the attached occupant positions of the client‟s vehicle.
7. The assistant becomes passive and waits for the client to detach from them.
8. . The assistant repeats steps 2 through 8.
For clients, the following occurs:

1. An occupant starts a Wait for Assistanceaction, becoming a client of a set of teams.
2. The client waits indefinitely for an assistant from one of the teams to offer assistance.

3. From all of the occupants who have offered assistance, the client chooses the closest
ones and assigns them to the remaining empty attached occupant positions. If there
are any extra offers, they are rejected.
4. The client repeats steps 2 and 3 until all attached occupant positions are filled.
5. The client processes all subsequent actions in their behavior with the assistants
attached until they either exhaust all actions or encounter a Detach from
Assistantsaction. One of the following will happen depending on the terminating
action:
 If the client encounters a Goto Exitsaction, they detach from all assistants
shortly before going through the exit and then proceed to go through the exit
on their own, even if they cannot move without assistance. They are then
removed from the simulation.
 If the client exhausts all actions, they detach from all assistants and are
removed from the simulation.
 If the client encounters a Detach from Assistantsaction, the client detaches
from all assistants and continues on to the next action on their own.
 If the client encounters a Goto Refuge Roomsaction, the client will go to one
of the rooms. Upon entering the room, the client will proceed to the back of
the room, detach from the assistants, and wait until the simulation completes.
Fig9.7 :The edit assisted evacuation teams dialog

CHAPTER 10
RESULT AND DISCUSSION
The presentation of the results considers three main times after the fire ignition,
namely: 30sec, 60sec, 120sec. Actually, 60s was chosen as a suitable time for preliminary
quick evacuation of the building after fire ignition.Final period is the time at which the smoke
pattern reaches its steady (constant) shape within the building without further change with
time. The ICU of the hospital is where the burner fire is setup.The main outputs obtained are
Heat Release rate, Burn rate, convective heat transfer, radiative heat transfer, thermocouple
readings at different locations and slice fire, fire spread, smoke Propagation at different times.
Heat release rate (HRR) is a primary fire hazard indicator. It is a critical parameter to
characterise a fire and it is generally measured in kW and MW. Especially the peak amount is
the primary characteristic determining the size, growth and suppression requirements of a fire
environment. Often the intent of a fire simulation is merely to predict the transport of smoke
and heat from a specified fire. In other words, the heat release rate is a specified input, not
something the model predicts. In these instances, the desired HRR is translated into a mass
flux for fuel at a given solid surface, which can be thought of as the surface of a burner.
10.1 Heat Release Rate (HRR)

Heat release rate (HRR) is the rate of heat generation by fire or the heat that is
available in every square foot of surface absorbing heat within a particular surface. It is
typically measured in Joules per second or Watts, since the output of fire can generate more
than a watt. For easier quantification, megawatts or kilowatts are used. HRR is not simply a
variable used to characterize fire. In fact, it is the solely significant variable in defining
phenomena such as fire hazard. Heat release rate is the driving force in terms of fire. Hence,
the production of undesirable effects of fire and its products also elevates with increased
HRR. This means that toxic gases, smoke and other types of fire hazards increase in parallel
with heat release rate. By cautiously monitoring HRR, threats to life and property can be
prevented. Thus, strict monitoring should be implemented by industrial operators to prevent
fire hazards. We select three HRR (heat release rate) values for the comparison study namely
1000KW, 3000KW, and 5000KW.

Fig 10.1: Graph at 1000 HRR
Fig 10.2: Graph at3000 HRR

Fig 10.3: Graph at 5000 HRR
The above graphs shows the relationship between HRR and time for the HRR rates.The
peak amount is the primary characteristic determining the size, growth and suppression
requirements of a fire environment.
 From 0 to 30 seconds heat released will be less due to the burning of materials.
 From 30 secs to 40 sec sudden hike in the graph, which show the flash over stage.
 Then the graph shows a consistency, this phase is known as the burning phase.
 All the three HRR rates shows similar characteristic.
10.2 Burn Rate

Burn rate is defined as the rate of burning of a substance.. The main factors that
affects the burn rate are length of the combustion zone, average mass flow rate of the fluid,
type of fuel used. Burn rate is a measure of the linear combustion rate of a compound or
substance such as a candle or a solid propellant. It is measured in length over time, such as
"mm/second" or "inches/second". Among the variables affecting burn rateare pressure and
temperature. Burn rate is an important parameter especially in the area of propellant because
it determines the rate at which exhaust gases are generated from the burning propellant which
in turn decides the rate of flow. Thus knowing quantitatively, the burning rate of a propellant,
and how it changes under various conditions.

BURN RATE (kg/s) at 1000 HRR

1.60E+00
1.40E+00
burn rate (kg/s) 1.20E+00
1.00E+00
8.00E-01
6.00E-01 kg/s BURN RATE
4.00E-01
2.00E-01
0.00E+00
0.00E+00 5.00E+01 1.00E+02 1.50E+02
time in sec
Fig 10.4 : Burn rate at 1000 HRR
burn rate (kg/s) at 3000 HRR

2.00E+00
1.80E+00
1.60E+00
burn rate (kg/s)
1.40E+00
1.20E+00
1.00E+00
8.00E-01 kg/s burn rate
6.00E-01
4.00E-01
2.00E-01
0.00E+00
0.00E+00 5.00E+01 1.00E+02 1.50E+02
Time in sec
Fig 10.5 : Burn rate at 3000 HRR

burn rate (kg/s) at 5000 HRR

2.50E+00
2.00E+00
Burn rate (kg/s)

1.50E+00
1.00E+00 kg/s burn rate
5.00E-01
0.00E+00
0.00E+00 5.00E+01 1.00E+02 1.50E+02
Time in sec
Fig 10.6: burn rate at 5000 HRR
 From 10 to 50 second the three burn rates (1000, 3000, 5000HRRs) shows gradual
increase.
 From 40 second to 100 seconds these burn rates shows a steep increase.
 The main factors that affects the burn rate are length of the combustion zone, average
mass flow rate of the fluid, type of fuel used.
10.3 Convective Heat Transfer

Convective heat transfer, often referred to simply as convection, is the transfer of heat
from one place to another by the movement of fluids. Convection is usually the dominant
form of heat transfer (convection) in liquids and gases. Although often discussed as a distinct
method of heat transfer, convective heat transfer involves the combined processes of
conduction (heat diffusion) and advection (heat transfer by bulk fluid flow).
The term convection can sometimes refer to transfer of heat with any fluid movement,
but advection is the more precise term for the transfer due only to bulk fluid flow. The
process of transfer of heat from a solid to a fluid, or the reverse, is not only transfer of heat by
bulk motion of the fluid, but diffusion and conduction of heat through the still boundary layer
next to the solid. Thus, this process without a moving fluid requires both diffusion and
advection of heat, a process that is usually referred to as convection. Convection can be
forced by movement of a fluid by means other than buoyancy forces. Thermal expansion of
fluids may also force convection. In other cases, natural buoyancy forces alone are entirely
responsible for fluid motion when the fluid is heated, and this process is called "natural

convection". An example is the draft in a chimney or around any fire. In natural convection,
an increase in temperature produces a reduction in density, which in turn causes fluid motion
due to pressures and forces when fluids of different densities are affected by gravity the
convection heat transfer mode comprises one mechanism. In addition to energy transfer due
to specific molecular motion (diffusion), energy is transferred by bulk, or macroscopic,
motion of the fluid. This motion is associated with the fact that, at any instant, large numbers
of molecules are moving collectively or as aggregates. Such motion, in the presence of a
temperature gradient, contributes to heat transfer. Because the molecules in aggregate retain
their random motion, the total heat transfer is then due to the superposition of energy
transport by random motion of the molecules and by the bulk motion of the fluid. It is
customary to use the term convection when referring to this cumulative transport and the term
advection when referring to the transport due to bulk fluid motion.
Fig 10.7: Convective heat transfer at 1000HRR

Fig 10.8: Convective heat transfer at 3000 HRR
Fig 10.9: convective heat transfer at 5000HRR
Convective heat transfer is explained on the basis of heat flux.

 The graph is in the negative region which indicates the flow of heat in the opposite
direction.

 The graph of 1000 HRR shows a steady state between the time intervals of 30
seconds to 80 seconds.
 In the initial stage of 1000 HRR we can see an abrupt variation in convective heat
transfer.
 The 5000 HRR graph shows a greater variation in the convective heat transfer than
3000 HRR
10.4 Radiative Heat Transfer

Thermal radiation is energy transfer by the emission of electromagnetic waves which
carry energy away from the emitting object. Thermal radiation is electromagnetic radiation
net generated by the thermal of charged particle in matter. All matter with a temperature
greater than absolute zero emits thermal radiation. When the temperature of the body is
greater than absolute zero, inter-atomic collisions cause the kinetic energy of the atoms or
molecules to change.
Fig 10.10:Radiative heat transfer at 1000HRR

Fig 10.11: Radiative heat transfer at 3000 HRR
Fig 10.12:Radiative heat transfer at 5000HRR
The radiative heat transfer explained on the basis of heat flux.

 The graph of 1000 HRR shows a gradual steady state in the radiative heat transfer.
 Both 3000 and 5000 HRRs graph shows a gradual decrease in the radiative heat
transfer.
 The graph having greater HRR value (i.e. 5000HRR) shows greater decrease.

10.5 Conductive Heat Transfer
Conduction of heat refers to the heat transfer through a solid material. Contribution to
the transmission of heat by conduction is less, particularly at the initial stags of fire
transmission. In a solid, the flow of heat by conduction is the result of the transfer of
vibrational energy from one molecule to another, and in fluids it occurs in addition as a result
of the transfer of kinetic energy. Heat transfer by conduction may also arise from the
movement of free electrons, a process which is particularly important with metals and
accounts for their high thermal conductivities.
Metals have very high thermal conductivities, nonmetallic solids lower values, non-
metallic liquids low values, and gases very low values.It is important to note that amongst
metals, stainless steel has a low thermal conductive value. The low conductivity of heat
insulating materials, such as cork, glass wool, and so on, is largely accounted for by their
high proportion of air space. The flow of heat through such materials is governed mainly by
the resistance of the air spaces, which should be sufficiently small for convection currents to
be suppressed.
Fig 10.13: Conductive heat transfer at 1000 HRR

Conductive heat transfer is explained on the basis of heat flux.

 The graph of 1000, 3000 and 5000 HRR shows a steady state between the time
intervals of 30 seconds to 110 seconds.
 In the initial stages of all HRR graphs show an an abrupt variation in conductive heat
transfer.
10.6 Thermocouple
A Thermocouple is a sensor used to measure temperature. Thermocouples consist of
two wire legs made from different metals. The wires legs are welded together at one end,

creating a junction. This junction is where the temperature is measured. In this simulation
themocouples are placed at different locations to find out variation in temperature. There are
many types of thermocouples, each with its own unique characteristics in terms of
temperature range, durability, vibration resistance, chemical resistance, and application
compatibility. Type J, K, T, & E are Base Metal thermocouples, the most common types of
thermocouples. Type R, S, and B thermocouples are Noble Metal thermocouples, which are
used in high temperature applications.Commercial thermocouples are inexpensive,
interchangeable, are supplied with standard connectors, and can measure a wide range of
temperatures. In contrast to most other methods of temperature measurement, thermocouples
are self-powered and require no external form of excitation. The main limitation with
thermocouples is accuracy; system errors of less than one degree Celsius (°C) can be
difficult. The graphs of thermocouples placed at the floor of the fire (at ICU) are used.
Fig 10.16: Temperature variations in ICU at 1000 HRR

Fig 10.17: Temperature Variations in ICU at 3000 HRR
From these graphs we can confirm

 The rising of temperature which is directly proportional to the time axis.
 The temperature variations which is located in the distant locations showing lesser
temperature rise with respect to the time. This main factor behind this is due to the
movement of hot air, i.e. the hot air moves to the upper floors.
 The thermocouple showing greater rise in temperature in the graph indicates that fire
source is located very close to that.
10.7 Screenshots Of Slice fire
The slice temperature shows the temperature variation in different axis. Heat
spread is greater in y axis, so the temperature in the simulation video is greater in y axis slice
temperature as compared to other axis. Slice temperature particularly at 16 seconds,50
seconds are shown in these. Different HRR rates are assigned respectively 1000, 3000, 5000.

10.7.1 Slice Fire at 1000 HRR
Fig 10.18:Slice fire in X direction at 10 sec
Fig 10.19:Slice fire in X direction at 50 sec

Fig 10.20: Slice fire in X direction at 80 sec

10.7.2 Slice Fire at 3000 HRR


10.7.3 Slice Fire at 5000HRR
Fig 10.27 : Slice fire in X direction at 38 sec

Fig 10.28: Slice fire in Z direction at 52 sec

10.8 Screenshots of Smoke Propagation
Smoke propagation obtained from the simulation video at different times in different
HRRs respectively 1000, 3000, 5000 are shown below. The smoke spread is greater in 5000
HRR compared to other HRR rates. Smoke spread in 1000 HRR gradually increases from 5
to 60 sec but a drastic smoke propagation occurs at 114 seconds. The smoke spread in 3000
HRR shows a drastic spread at 30 seconds itself.
10.8.1 Smoke Propagation at 1000 HRR
Fig 10.30: Smoke propogation at 59 sec


10.8.2 Smoke Propagation at 3000HRR
Fig 10.34: Smoke propagation at 21 sec


10.8.3 Smoke Propagation at 5000 HRR


10.9 Screenshots of Fire Spread
Fire spread obtained from the simulation video at different times in different HRRs
respectively 1000. 3000, 5000 are shown below. The fire spread is greater in 5000 HRR
compared to other HRR rates.
10.9.1 Fire Spread at 1000HRR
Fig 10.42: Fire propogation at 18 sec


10.9.2 Fire Spread at 3000 HRR


10.9.3 Fire Spread at 5000 HRR


10.10 Evacuation
It‟s a graph showing evacuation rates for 150 peoples during an emergency situation.
There are two lines in the graph, green line indicates the number of persons remaining for
evacuation and violet line shows the number of persons already evacuated from the building.
At the initial 10 seconds there is no proper evacuation occurred due to the panic situation.
Fig 10.54: Emergency Evacuation

Fig 10.55 .a
Fig 10.55 b

Fig 10.55 c
Fig 10.55 d
Fig 10.55 a, b, c, d: Screenshots of evacuation

10.11 Smoke Volume Calculation
Rate of production of smoke (M) = 0.096 × P×P0 y3/2 [g× (T0 /T)] ½
= 0.188×P× y3/2
Density of air (D) = 1.22× [T0 /(T+273)]
Temperature = 200C
Time = 60s
M = 0.188×30× (2.1)3/2
= 17.16 kg/s
D = 1.22× [27/ (1170+273)]
= 1.22× [27/ (1443)]
= 0.0228 kg/m3
Volume of Flow = Rate of production of smoke/ Density of air
= 17.6/0.0228
Volume of Flow = 752 m3/s
10.12 Smoke Spreading Time Calculation
( ) ( )
[ ]
Time taken for the smoke to fill the entire Floor (t) =
Floor area (A) =2400 m2
Perimeter of the fire (P) =30 m
Distance from the floor to the lower surface of the smoke layer (Y) = 2.1 m
Height of the enclosure (h)=3.2 m
Acceleration due to gravity (g)=9.81 m/s2
( ) ( )
* +

[ ]
t s
Time taken for the smoke to fill the entire Floor (t) = 67.64s

CHAPTER 11
CONCLUSION
Based on the above results and discussions, the following concluding points can be stated.
 In about 110 sec of time the whole building is filled with smoke.
 Temperature may rise to unexpected very high levels and flashover occurs when the
smoke does not find its way out of the building. This is typically happened in the
present study for the cases of fire source in the ICU. Depending on the material of the
structure, this may lead to structure burning and building collapse.
 The evacuation routes get filled with smoke within 30 sec that serves as a barrier
during evacuation.
 Volume of smoke and time taken for the smoke to fill the entire floor obtained from
theoretical calculations and Fire dynamic study is almost same.
 Insufficient stair width made the evacuation slower. So stair width should be
increased.
 Occupants should be trained to obey the emergency and evacuation plans especially
lowering their heads below the smoke layer to survive. In many of the investigated
cases, the smoke is constrained to the upper portion of the floor just below the ceiling.
 Building performance-based fire safety design scheme is to be designed based on
three main fire control directions: to prevent fire spread, control toxic gas gathered
and fire personnel safe evacuation.
 Any building can be worked out and the relative dangerous position of ignition source
can be found. The system can provide a reference on fire safety for architectural
designer to improve the fire safety of building design.
 Emergency vents can be made in the roof of the top floor, which operates in time of
fire based on the signal of heat/ smoke detectors,and can play an outstanding job in
sucking the smoke outside the building. Thus, Flashover is prevented and evacuation
of the occupants become much easier and safer.
 The stair cases need to be enclosed with special types of doors that close the openings
in stair in case of fire.
 The inner openings between different floors facilitate the smoke propagation from one
floor to another. This situation is very tricky to the occupants and may cause serious
injury.

CHAPTER 12
SAFETY AUDIT
12.1 General summary
The Fire Safety Audit was conducted in Carmel hospital, pala . The audit aimed to
know the various fire safety levels and to give recommendations to improve fire safety levels
of the hospital. The audit was conducted on 8/2/2017.Through this audit several findings
were made.
There is no provision of sprinkling systems which are automated systems to release
water all across the hospital. Employees are not provided with any information on dealing
with emergency situations.
Hospital employees are yet to be identified and appointed in for firefighting duties
and provided with training. Evacuation drills are yet to be conducted in hospital so as to
measure preparedness and identify faults in current evacuation teams and the protocols they
follow. To improve safety levels in the hospital, there is a need of better management
regulation and training of staff on disaster management, possible mitigation measures that
could be taken including usage of fire extinguishers, water sprinklers and putting up of fire
alarms. The improvement in workplace regulation, formation of protocols and responsibility
sharing among the staff can go a long way in mitigating the risks arising out of fire hazard
and in preventing such disasters.
12.2 Introduction
Fire safety is matter of vital importance for hospitals concerning employee and
patients in equal measure. After the grief-stricken incidence of AMRI hospital fire on
December 9,2011 in Kolkata, the question of hospital safety and preparedness to deal with
fire hazard has come up .Unawareness of safety measures especially among hospital staff
lead to death toll of more than 90 persons including patients and staff. Whole incident turned
out to be an eye opener for government as well as health care providers. Looking at the
history of hospital fire around the world and India, there was an observed need to give much
more focus on fire safety of hospitals. Thus, there is a need to analyse causes of fire and
means to mitigate fire hazard and create awareness about fire safety in general and hospital
fire safety in particular.

12.3 Major hospital fire incidents
AMRI Hospital, Kolkata: The biggest and the most disastrous of fire incidents in any
hospital of India occurred at AMRI Hospital of Kolkata. According to eyewitnesses, smoke
was reported coming out of the basement of the building at around 3:30 a.m. The fire soon
spread to other floors of the hospital, which resulted in the suffocation of patients. At
approximately 5 a.m., the Fire Brigade reached the room. According to the hospital
spokesperson, there were 160 patients at the time of the incident, of which around 50 were in
ICU. By noon, the death toll reached 55. In the end, 73 people were reported dead. It was
discovered that the medical waste and chemicals kept in the basement caused the fire.
St. Anthony's hospital, Effingham: St. Anthony's Hospital fire was a disaster that occurred
on April 4, 1949.The 100-bed hospital was constructed mainly out of wood and brick. Parts
of the building dated back to 1876. By 1949 the facility was completely outdated. It
contained open corridors and staircases. Many walls and ceilings were covered with oilcloth
fabrics and combustible soundproof tiles. The building lacked sprinklers as well as fire
detection and alarm systems.
Shortly before midnight on April 4, 1949, the fire broke out. It spread rapidly through the
building because of the open construction of the building and the combustible building
materials. There were 116 patients and ten staff on duty when the fire started. Many of them
were trapped on the upper floors by the rapid spread of the fire. These included eleven new
born infants in the nursery, patients in the ICU and the nurse who stayed behind with them.
A total of 74 people died, including patients, nurses, nuns, a priest. The cause of the fire
remains unknown. However, investigators quickly identified the many safety deficiencies at
St. Anthony's Hospital. The main cause of death however was identified as suffocation due to
the toxic gases
Clevland hospital,ohio : The Cleveland Clinic is a multispecialty academic hospital located

in Cleveland, Ohio On May 15, 1929, nitrocellulose x-ray films stored in the basement of the
outpatient building ignited. It formed a cloud of toxic oxides of nitrogen and carbon though
the building. One hundred and twenty-three people lost their lives in the disaster. A dozen
investigating agencies were not able to determine what had caused the fire. Cleveland Clinic's
own inquiry narrowed the possible causes down to spontaneous combustion caused by heat; a
discarded cigarette or match; or contact with an extension cord light hung over a stack of
films.
Rajendra Hospital, Patiala, Punjab : Five new borns, all less than a week old, were killed
and another was injured on January 31, 2013 in northern India after a short circuit sparked a
fire in the hospital maternity ward where they were being treated for jaundice. The blaze
began before dawn at the state-run Rajendra hospital in the city of Patiala.
Novokhopersky neuropsychiatric hospital, Moscow: Moscow, Russian Federation A fire

swept quickly through a psychiatric hospital outside Moscow on April 26 2013 early
morning, killing 38 people, some of them sedated and in their beds. The cause of the fire was
violations of fire regulations and a short circuit. The reports claim that half of the patients
where given sedatives at night but insisted they where not tied to their beds. Much of blame
was placed on fire fighters who took an hour to arrive.
These accidents in majority cases were man-made and leave one with a disturbing
question: Why do fire accidents in India see a huge loss of lives? Even the 'Great London Fire
of September, 1966', though reducing half the city to ashes, had killed only 6. Whereas in the
state of Haryana in India, a school fire back in 1995 left 500 dead. According to Delhi Fire
Services statistics, the capital city had witnessed about 75,000 fire incidents between 1995
and 2000 resulting in deaths of about 2000 and injuries ranging from 7000 to 8000. Capital
city of Tamil Nadu state, Chennai witnessed about 9000 fire incidents between 2001 and
2006 leaving about 100 dead. Maharashtra's capital, Mumbai, according to a report, is
recorded almost 200 fire incidents a month from May to October, 2012.5 Thus, there is an
urgent need to analyse causes of fire and means to mitigate fire hazard and create awareness
about fire safety in general and hospital fire safety in particular.
12.4. PROVISIONS AND REGULATIONS FOR HOSPITAL FIRE SAFETY IN

INDIA
12.4.1. HOSPITAL ENGINEERING SERVICE PROVISION FOR FIRE

PROTECTION, AS PER NABH (CHAPTER 2.1)
2.1.1 Fire fighting installation approval must be obtained
2.1.2 Location of control room should be easily accessible
2.1.3 Control panel and manned, PA equipment should be connected with detection system
or fire alarm system
2.1.4 Pumps and pump room

2.1.5 Two separate pumps i.e. electric and diesel pump should be available
2.1.6 Provision of Forced ventilation should be there
2.1.7 Arrangement of filling Fire tenders
2.1.8 4 way fire inlet must be present in case of emergency
2.1.9 Proper access for Fire tender to fire tanks
2.1.10 Fire Drill should be performed
2.1.11 Yard Hydrants should be available
2.1.12 Ring main and yard hydrants should be as per strategic locations.
2.1.13 2 way fire heads to charge the ring main
2.1.14 Landing Hydrant and Hose reels
2.1.15 Wet riser system must be installed
2.1.16 First aid Fire fighting appliances must be in working conditions
2.1.17 First aid equipment cabinets
2.1.18 Provision of Escape routes – escape stair
2.1.19 Sprinklers system – basement and buildings above 15 M in height
2.1.20 Automatic Smoke detectors / heat detectors
2.1.21 Provision of Fire Alarm System and Fire extinguishers
12.4.2 REGULATIONS AS PER NATIONAL BUILDING CODE 2005(CHAPTER 2.2)
2.2.1 All high-rise buildings need to get NOC as per the zoning regulations of their
jurisdiction concerned.
2.2.2 A road which abuts a high rise should be more than 12 meters wide, to facilitate free
movement of Fire Services vehicles, specially the Hydraulic Platform and Turn Table
Ladder.

2.2.3 Entrance width and clearance should not be less than 6 metres or 5 metres,
respectively.
2.2.4 At least 40 per cent of the occupants should be trained in conducting proper
evacuation, operation of systems and equipment and other fire safety provisions in the
building, apart from having a designated fire officer at the helm.
2.2.5 The buildings should have open spaces, as per the Zonal Regulations.
2.2.6 Minimum of two staircases with one of them on the external walls of the building.
2.2.7 They should be enclosed with smoke-stop-swing-doors of two-hour fire resistance on

the exit to the lobby
12.5 Objectives of the Audit
The objectives of Hospital Fire Safety Audit were to:
 Analyze the present fire preparedness levels of the hospital

 Identify the gaps that can be the cause of fire hazard in hospitals.
 Identify the understanding and awareness levels of the hospital staff with respect to
fire hazard, its sources and mitigation measures.
 Foster the process of hospital fire preparedness by recommending measures to
decrease fire risk and improved response in case of an incident.
12.6 Findings through data analysis
12.6.1 General Safety
 The hospitals is directly connected with main road.

 Local fire station facility is acquainted with the hospital.
 Hospital has been provided with fire extinguishers and are regularly inspected.
 Hospital has open space just outside the hospital for people to assemble in case of an
emergency
 The communication numbers that can be made via mobiles and telephones with
Police or fire department has been displayed.
 Drawers are kept closed when not in use, thereby not becoming a hindrance in case
of emergency evacuation.
 Compressed gas cylinders are secured from falling over.
General safety
YES NO N/A
 Are drawers kept closed at all times?
 Are chairs and other furnitures in good condition?
 Are compressed gas cylinders secured from falling over?
 Do all staff follow proper body mechanics?
 Is there ready acess to a suitable step stool,ladder etc where items
are stored overhead?
 In storage areas, are the heavier items stored at waist level,

with the lightest objects placed on the higher shelves?
 Are all vehicles (carts, wheelchairs, etc.) in good operating

condition?
 Has personal protection equipment (as required by MSDS or

other standards) been provided to all employees needing it?
 Has staff been trained on how to inspect and use patient care
equipment?
 Is the area free of clutter?
 Is excess paper and combustible material improperly stored

creating a fire risk?
12.6.2. Fire & Disaster
 Hospitals don't have a proper reporting procedure on finding fire.

 Sprinkler systems are not available in hospitals.
Fire & Disaster
YES NO N/A
 Are all fire alarm pull stations and fire extinguishers accessible?
 Does all staff know the locations of fire alarm pull stations?
 Does all staff know the locations of extinguishers in or near their

work area?
 Does staff in the area know the proper reporting procedure if they
find (or believe there may be)
a fire? (RACER)
 Is all storage kept at least 18" below the sprinkler head keeping
sprinklers unobstructed?
 Are all containers of powders, liquids, and gases labeled as to

contents?
 Are all areas in compliance with “No Smoking”

policies?
 Are all areas, other than approved kitchens, free of Toasters or

Toaster Ovens?
 If portable space heaters are used, are they the approved type?
12.6.3. Hallway ,Stairs & Exit Paths
 Hospital is kept clear of obstructions in corridors.

 Wet floors are not marked with "CAUTION, WET FLOOR" (or similar) signs
 All hospitals have hard floor surfaces that are secure and free of tripping and slipping
hazards.
 Floor surfaces are not uneven or in need of repair
 No objects are placed on stairways and are completely clear of obstructions.
Hallways, Stairs, & Exit Paths

YES NO N/A
 Are the corridors kept clear of obstructions?
 Are all wet floors marked with "CAUTION, WET FLOOR"

(or similar) signs?
 Is carpeting secure to the floor, unfrayed, free from tripping

hazards, and generally in good condition?

Are hard floor surfaces secure and free of tripping and
slipping hazards?
 Are floor surfaces uneven or in need of repair?

 Are all EXIT signs illuminated?
 When opened and then released, do all fire doors close and
latch properly?
 Are stairwell handrails in good condition?
 Are stair treads in good condition?
 Are stairwells completely clear of obstructions and any

objects?
(Stairwells may not be used for storage)
 Is the housekeeping in this area adequate?
12.6.4. Electrical Safety
 Hospital staff have not identified electrical switches and circuit breakers necessary to
prevent fire in case of a short circuit
 Electrical receptacles and cover plates are in good condition
 Electrical cords and plugs are in good condition
 Electrical equipments appear to be in good condition.
Electrical Safety
YES NO N/A
Is access to electrical panels clear and not obstructed?

Are all electrical switches & circuit breakers identified? If not,
 list the locations of those that are not on the back of this sheet.
Are all electrical receptacles and cover plates in good

 condition?
Are electrical cords and plugs in good condition? Check for

 damaged insulation, cut cords, splices, and tape wrapped
around the cord - none of which should be present.
Are only fused power strip extension cords, surge protectors,

 used (all 3 pins on the plug)?

12.6.5. Laboratory
 Fire extinguishers are available.

 Aisles are clear and ready access out of the area in case of fire or another emergency.
 Corrosives are stored on the lowest shelves.
 Flammables, acids, and bases are all stored separately from each other.
 Chemicals are labeled to indicate their contents.
 Chemical containers are labeled to indicate any hazard which may be present, i.e.
TOXIC or FLAMMABLE.
Laboratory
YES NO N/A
Are the emergency showers, eyewash stations, and fire
 extinguishers accessible?
Are aisles clear and unobstructed to permit ready access out

 of the area in case of fire or another emergency?
 Are flammable storage cabinets located out of hallways and

exit paths?
 Are corrosives stored only on the lowest shelves?
 Are flammables, acids, and bases all stored separately from

each other?
Are all refrigerators labeled to indicate whether or not they

 are safe for the storage of flammables?
 Are all non-explosion proof refrigerators entirely free of

flammables?
 Are all chemicals labeled to indicate their contents?
Are all chemical containers labeled to indicate any hazard

 which may be present, i.e. TOXIC, CORROSIVE,
FLAMMABLE, etc.?
Are Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) available for ALL

 products in the laboratory?
Are food products, including beverages of any sort, kept out

 of the laboratory work environment at all times?

12.6.6. Vehicles
Vehicles
YES NO N/A
 Oil Level OK
 Battery, Radiator, Brake and Windshield Washer Fluid

Levels OK
 Battery Terminals, Air Filter OK
 Tires - Condition Good
 Rubber Hoses, Belts - (Fan, Generator, Alternator) OK
 Doors, Mirrors, Windshield and other Glass In Good

Condition
 Head Lights, Signal Lights, Brake Lights, and Other Lights

OK
 Windshield Wiper Blades, Arms and Motor Operation OK
 Safety Belt for Each Passenger
 Horn Works
 Other Items OK - (Defroster, Mechanical Condition, Paint,

etc.)
 Safety Equipment - (Bumper Jack, Lug Wrench, Flares, 5

lb. ABC Extinguisher, Bungee Cords and/or Equipment
needed to secure loads)
 Mileage and Maintenance Log Used
12.6.7. Work Place Regulations
 Hospital have fire fighting equipment (FFE),

 Hospital has suitable means for giving warning/detection of fire.
 Employees have not been identified for fire fighting duties and not been given
adequate training on fire fighting

 Certain sections of hospital don't have contacts with emergency services nor are their
numbers handy.
Work Place Regulations

YES NO N/A
 Firefighting equipment provided
 Means of giving warning/detection of fire
 Employees identified for firefighting duties

 Different sections don't have contacts with emergency
services
 Personal protective equipment are provided


Monitoring of activities

No smoking signs
12.6.8. Emergency Routes & Exits
Emergency Routes & Exits

YES NO N/A
 Emergency routes and exits kept clear
 Means of escape sufficient for numbers present


Exit routes are adequate lit

Emergency assembly points are provided

Proper emergency procedure
12.6.9.Work Area
 Aisles are sufficiently wide for personnel and moving equipment

 Lighting is inadequate in corridors of the all the areas
 Exits are marked in all directions

Work area
YES NO N/A
 Lighting is inadequate in corridors


Exits are marked in all the directions
 Aisles are sufficiently wide
 Proper house keeping
12.6.10. Waste Management
Waste Management
YES NO N/A

Daily cleaning
 Removal of waste from all rooms
 Daily waste management plan
 Presence of biological waste recycling plant
 Safe method for removal of expired medicines from

pharmacy
 Recycling of used and damaged syringes,bottles
 PPEs for handling bloodborn pathogens
12.6.11 Intensive Care Unit (ICU)
Intensive Care Unit (ICU)

YES NO N/A
 Adequate ventilation to remove contaminants
 Adequate filtering of air recirculation
 Protection against xrays

 Aerolised chemicals not exposed to staff
 Standard procedure to handle with body fluids

Insulation of electrical wiring has done
12.7 Recommendations
12.7.1 FIRE PREVENTION OR RISK MITIGATION
 No Smoking policy need a little more monitoring.

 Excess paper and combustible material should be stored properly and it should not
create a fire risk.
 Electrical cords and plugs should be inspected regularly to look out their conditions.
 Electrical circuit breakers must be identified.
 Fire extinguishers must be made available and mounted on appropriate locations.
Some identified staff must be trained on the use of a fire extinguisher.
 Location of fire extinguishers should be identified and sign board should be fixed at
every place to reach nearest fire extinguisher location.
 Sprinklers system should be atleast in each storage room of all the hospitals and kept
at least 18" below on sprinkler head.
 Staff in the area should be made aware of the proper reporting procedure (relevant
contact persons who can take swift actions) if they find a fire.
 All chemical containers should be labeled to indicate any hazard which may be
present.
 Direct communication hot links should be established with police and fire stations for
quick response.
 Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) should be available for all products in the
laboratory.
 Appropriate firefighting equipment (FFE) should provide to employees. They should
be easily accessible, simple to use and indicated by signs.

12.7.2. EVACUATION
 Sign boards and signals should be put up at proper places for emergency evacuation.
 All EXIT signs should be illuminated for the maximum use in emergency.
 All exits must be bright with sufficient lighting even at night.
 A specified team for evacuation must be formed and adequate training must be
provided to them.
 Emergency routes of hospital should be identified and emergency exits must be
keeping clear from any type of obstruction.
 There should be mock drills done annually for evacuation by the trained team and
drill records should be maintained well. Identified gaps from mock drills must be
plugged.
 Emergency exits must be created in hospitals that be used only in times of any
eventuality.
12.7.3. TEAMS AND TRAINING
 Staff must be identified and formed into different teams required for different
purposes that include -Mock Drill and Evacuation, Monitoring and Control, Fire
Extinguisher Operations and Maintenance.
 Proper relevant trainings must be conducted for the staff identified as per their team
and role and responsibilities.
12.7.4. FIRE RESPONSE
 Availability of medicines / facility to treat fire victims.

 Doctors for burn treatment.
 Isolation sterile room for burn patients.
 Fire tenders to quickly respond to a fire scenario in a hospital.
12.7.5. MANAGEMENT REGULATIONS
Hospital has not carried out any fire risk assessment (FRA) before this. There has
been no emergency preparedness plan created, and no planning or system of monitoring and
control been made. Management is required to appoint competent persons and define
appropriate procedures for serious and imminent danger. Employees need to be provided with
relevant information, adequate co-operation and co-ordination between employers and
appropriate training given to all employees and placed with clearly defined responsibility.

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Safety audit and pre analysis of fire and smoke propagation in a hospital building using FDS

Department of Safety and Fire Engineering, TIST 2

 Plan Structural planning

 Pre analysis of the buildings

 Design of the structure

Department of Safety and Fire Engineering, TIST 3

 3D modelling using sketchUp pro 2016, Pyrosim, AutoCAD

 Comparison study with different criteria‟s

 Conduct safety audit

1.6 Organization of report

Department of Safety and Fire Engineering, TIST 4

Literature review is an integral part of any project. It is an evaluative report of information

Department of Safety and Fire Engineering, TIST 5

ΔP = cah( Equation 2.1

Department of Safety and Fire Engineering, TIST 6

Department of Safety and Fire Engineering, TIST 7

Department of Safety and Fire Engineering, TIST 8

Department of Safety and Fire Engineering, TIST 9

Department of Safety and Fire Engineering, TIST 10

Fig 2.1:Physical characteristics of a evacuative person

Department of Safety and Fire Engineering, TIST 11

3.1 General Features of the Computational Modelling

3.2 Flow Governing Equations

u = Flow velocity vector

f = Specific body force vector

Equation of state for a perfect gas:

3.3 Mesh size calculation

Cp = Specific heat in kJ/Kg-K

3.4 Volume of Smoke

Department of Safety and Fire Engineering, TIST 13

The rate of air entrainment depends on:

 Heat produced by the fire

3.5 Smoke Spreading Time

SL.No Title Details

I Total plinth area 9600m2

Ii Plinth area of ground floor 2400m2

Iii Plinth area of first floor 2400m2

Iv Height of building 13m

Vii Two wheeler parking 50 nos

Viii Car parking 20 nos

Department of Safety and Fire Engineering, TIST 15

Fig 4.1:satellite view of proposed hospital

Fig 4.2 :Map of proposed site

Department of Safety and Fire Engineering, TIST 16

5.1 Chances of fire in the building

5.2 Fire Science and Technology

Fires start when a inflammable or a combustible material, in combination with a sufficient

Department of Safety and Fire Engineering, TIST 17

5.3 Heat Energy transmission

Fig 5.1: fire expansion by conduction in heat resistant wall

Fig 5.2:fire expansion in buildings by convection

Department of Safety and Fire Engineering, TIST 18

 The degree of compartmentation within the building

Fig 5.3:expansion of fire by adjacent property through opening in ventillation by radiation

Department of Safety and Fire Engineering, TIST 19

 Fully developed fire

Standard curve approved by international standards organisation

Standard curve as provided in British standard