Assessment of Numerical Simulation Capabilities of the Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS 6) for Planar Air Curtain Flows

Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) results are discussed for momentum driven planar jet flows, resembling configurations in use for air curtain in the context of smoke control in building fire. The CFD package Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS) is used. Special focus is given to the impact of grid resolution, synthetic turbulent inflow boundary condition and sub-grid scale eddy viscosity models. The computational results are compared with summarized literature data. Investigation of different set-ups of inlet boundary conditions, including the inlet duct length, velocity profile and method of generation of turbulence at the level of the inflow, reveals that the inlet boundary condition is the most influential factor governing the flow downstream. The FDS results successfully reproduce the planar jet flows, both in terms of mean variables and second-order statistics. ‘Reference’ results have been obtained with a fully developed turbulent flow emerging from a long inlet duct. By reducing the inlet duct length and applying the Synthetic Eddy Method (SEM) at the inflow boundary condition, the ‘reference’ results have been reproduced with a reduction in the computing times of approximately 20%. However, care must be taken when choosing the parameters of SEM, in particular the number of eddies and their length scale. The impact of turbulent viscosity model is noticeable, but not of primary importance for the flow at hand, provided that a sufficiently fine computational mesh is used.