Advanced Computational Fluid Dynamics Modelling of Water Sprays in Fire-Driven Flows

Water sprays are known to be an efficient means of fire control and suppression, as demonstrated
by several large-scale and reduced-scale experimental tests. The empirical approach does not
provide though sufficient insight into the complex underlying physics in order to optimize the
efficiency of sprinklers and water mist systems and develop generalized engineering correlations
and/or general design and installation rules. In this project, the capabilities of numerical modelling
will be thoroughly examined. More specifically, several important physical models (related to the
motion and heat and mass transfer of water droplets) that are implemented in a Computational
Fluid Dynamics code used for fire safety engineering will be examined in detail. Sub-models that
are not state-of-the-art will be improved, based on advances achieved in other research
communities (for example in combustion or in drying technology). The assessment of the
modelling capabilities will be based on a rigorous verification and validation procedure within a
step-wise approach (for example from the case of a single water droplet to a full water spray). The
foreseen advances in this area will foster the use of CFD as a more reliable tool in the design of
active fire suppression systems.