Revolutionary SMART technology smokes out the secrets of fire modellers

Citation

(1999), "Revolutionary SMART technology smokes out the secrets of fire modellers", Disaster Prevention and Management, Vol. 8 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/dpm.1999.07308aad.003

Revolutionary SMART technology smokes out the secrets of fire modellers

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Revolutionary "SMART" technology smokes out the secrets of fire modellers

Fire and computer scientists at the University of Greenwich have launched a revolutionary software package that brings advanced fire field modelling expertise to the fingertips of design engineers. SMARTFIRE integrates expert knowledge and artificial intelligence with Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) to allow fire fighters, building control officers, architects and fire safety engineers to simulate the spread of fire and smoke in enclosed spaces, such as buildings. By avoiding the need to sub-contract complex fire modelling, it improves the cost-effectiveness of the design process; and by enabling designers to evaluate more scenarios of higher complexity themselves, it improves their chances of achieving optimal safety.

Embedded expertise

Like other CFD-based fire field models, SMARTFIRE requires the enclosed space to be described by a 3D mesh of computational cells, a highly specialised and difficult task. While conventional codes require manual programming that could take an expert many hours, SMARTFIRE performs it automatically, and in seconds. The code recommends the number of computational cells required for the mesh, distributes them appropriately and determines boundary conditions used to describe ventilation through doors and windows.

To perform these specialist functions, SMARTFIRE draws on an embedded knowledge capability, based on over 20 person years of experience in fire field modelling.

Real time interaction

SMARTFIRE also allows the user to visualise and interact with the simulation as it unfolds using a run-time GUI (graphical user interface). Traditional CFD codes employ the laborious "batch processing" methodology, which requires the user to stop the calculations periodically, import the data into a graphics package, and only then study the solution for any adjustments which may have to be made. It is an error prone and highly inefficient process that incurs significant downtime.

In contrast, SMARTFIRE's run-time GUI allows these adjustments to be made "on the fly" during the calculations as part of the user's dynamic control of the CFD engine.

"SMARTFIRE is the world's first software package to combine fire modelling, computational fluid dynamics, artificial intelligence and advanced computer science techniques", says Professor Ed Galea, leader of the Fire Safety Engineering group at the University of Greenwich. "The result will be a major shift in fire modelling away from the laboratories of theoretical fire scientists, to the desk top PC of front-line design engineers. The launch of SMARTFIRE signals a new era in fire safety technology.

"Having SMARTFIRE define the computational mesh is equivalent to having an expert fire modeller sitting at your side giving you advice. And allowing the user to visualise and interact with the solution as it is being created, saves valuable computational time compared with the conventional 'batch processing approach'. Ultimately, SMARTFIRE will enable fire safety engineers to use the latest fire modelling techniques routinely."

SMARTFIRE is the result of eight years of development by the Fire Safety Engineering Group of the University of Greenwich, in collaboration with groups such as the Home Office Fire Research and Development Group (FRDG) and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council. The product's continued development is being guided by a committee of national fire experts, from the FRDG, the Loss Prevention Council, Ove Arup and Partners and the Essex Fire Brigade.