Evaluation of Evacuation Mapping in Industrial Fire Scenarios using CFD tools

Recently Bangladesh has witnessed a significant rise in industrial fire incidents. These structures often lack adequate fire safety systems causing smoke propagation during emergencies. This study evaluates the design of an industrial building comprising of 2 floors with an opening between them using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) tool. The structure was simulated using PyroSim with two varying fire location. The environment was simulated for 12 minutes since ignition with a medium fire size. It was seen, within 3 minutes, smoke can engulf all exits of the storage room reducing visibility to dangerous level if fire source is in fabric storage. Comparative analyses show if fire is originated in production area, smoke migration is delayed offering better evacuation opportunities in ground floor. Toxic combustion product of cellulosic fuels like carbon monoxide (CO) cause intoxication and loss of consciousness whereas soot reduces the visibility. It is therefore important to predict the smoke conditions in a building during fire and find the ratio of ASET (Available Safety Egress Time) & RSET (Required Safety Egress Time). This study highlights importance of performance-based fire safety design, where perspective-based design falls short.