Numerical-simulation research on building-facade geometry and its effect on fire propagation in wooden facades

Fire protection is a very important requirement in the facade of a building. When there is a fire in a building, the facade can be one of the quickest spreading pathways, regardless of the material of which it is constructed. Therefore, in terms of safety, the study of mechanisms controlling the spread of fire through the facade is an issue that needs to be addressed, especially when it involves combustible material claddings such as wood. In several European countries the building regulations restrict the use of combustible materials in facade claddings. The application of passive protection measures to control the spread of fire would help minimize such restrictions. In this research it was used computer-simulation techniques to study the behaviour of flames ejected through the windows on wooden facades. We studied five wooden facade systems which combine different configurations of windows, eaves and non-combustible elements which act as fire barriers. The results showed the strong influence of geometrical configuration of the facade elements in controlling fire spreading. They also show that it is possible to establish an acceptable standard of fire protection through non-combustible elements that does not alter the aesthetics of wooden facades. The study was performed using field models of computational fluid-dynamics. Particularly through the software: Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS) to solve numerically the mathematical integration models, PyroSim for the graphical interface, and Smokeview for viewing the results