Computational Fluid Dynamics of Compartment Fires: A Review of Methods and Applications

Compartment fires, such as those occurring in buildings and confined spaces, impose modeling challenges due to the complexity of turbulent flows, combustion, and radiative heat transfer. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) has become a vital tool for understanding and predicting fire dynamics in such situations. This review provides an analysis of different available methods and sub-models on the CFD tools which have been applied to compartment fires in the literature, examining current turbulence, combustion, and radiation approaches. Additionally, it identifies challenges and deficiencies in modeling such as combustion, radiation modeling, flame extinction, and ventilation impacts, discussing the balance between accuracy and computational cost. The review also highlights aspects of different sub-models and provides the reader with informative instruction in making the decisions for a more reliable CFD simulation of the compartment fire.