Time-varying flame boundaries to heat transfer applications is a common application in energy and safety related systems. Many such systems could be tested and analyzed; however, the number of thermophysical parameters involved and the possibilities of boundary conditions are endless. Many papers have justified numerical and analytical models based on computational efficiency, with the objective of eventually applying those efficient techniques to real problems. There are, however, a number of standard test situations related to such systems that may be readily studied. The purpose of this study is to be able to optimize a coarse numerical model and range of thermophysical parameters that represent the physics of the real problem in a standard test situation. The applied thermal problem involves fire barrier safety in the design of buildings, such as hospitals and schools. Public buildings are often primarily constructed of concrete with significant gaps between sections to allow the concrete to expand and contract, due to climate changes or transients. In seismically active regions of the world, gaps may be up to several meters across, requiring some type of thermal fire barrier designed to prevent a fire from spreading for some time. A radiative/conductive fire barrier is first tested with an ASTM standard fire. A numerical model is then applied, which is an optimally coarse finite difference/finite volume formulation applied to the standard transient conduction energy equation with radiative heat flux (Ozisik, 1973) and to the radiative transfer equation (Su, 1993). The numerical model is able to predict thermal performance of the test system, illustrating the utility of the coarse grid model in engineering applications.

Issue Section:
Heat Transfer Applications
Keywords:
Conduction, Fire, Heat Transfer, Insulation, Radiation
Topics:
Ceramics, Fire, Heat transfer, Insulation, Transient heat transfer
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