Maintenance and Reliability

FIRE DYNAMICS TOOLS:
U.S. NRC Quantitative Fire Hazard Analysis Methods

This three-day course is based on selected topics from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) quantitative methodology known as “Fire Dynamics Tools” (FDT s) which assist in performing fire hazard analysis (FHA). This methodology forms the basis for NRC’s newly implemented NUREG-1805.1, issued June 2005.

This FHA methodology has been encoded in spreadsheets designed to perform quick, first-order calculations for the potential fire scenarios using today’s state-of-the-art principles of fire dynamics.

The FDT s spreadsheets contain physical and thermal properties of the materials commonly encountered in nuclear power plants and were derived from the sound principles and practice developed primarily by NRC’s Division of System Safety and Analysis. Seminar participants should bring a laptop computer for their use of these FDT s spreadsheets during interactive class problem solving sessions.

The subject matter of this seminar covers many aspects of fire dynamics and contains descriptions of the most important fire processes. The seminar participant will be exposed to a significant number of examples, reference tables, illustrations, and conceptual drawings designed to expand their appreciation for this methodology.

COURSE SCHEDULE
Monday, August 10, 2009

Introduction to Fire Hazard Analysis
Predicting Hot Gas Layer Temperature and Smoke Layer Height in a Room
Burning Characteristics of Liquid Pool Fire, Heat Release Rate, Burning Duration, and Flame Height
Radiant Heat Flux from Fire to a Target Fuel
Thermal Radiation from Hydrocarbon Fireballs
Ignition Time of a Target Fuel Exposed to a Constant Radiative Heat Flux

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Full-Scale Heat Release Rate of a Cable Tray Fire
Burning Duration of Solid Combustibles
Centerline Temperature of a Buoyant Fire Plume
Sprinkler Response Time
Fire Severity Calculations

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Pressure Rise Due to a Fire in a Closed Compartment
Pressure Increase and Explosive Energy Release Associated with Explosions
Rate of Hydrogen Gas Generation in Battery Rooms
Fire Resistance Time of Protected and Unprotected Steel Beams
Visibility through Smoke

RESOURCE MATERIAL PROVIDED
Handouts and visuals used in presentations; a CD-ROM containing all reference materials, real-world example FHAs, and the latest version of FDTs; and a copy of “Fire Dynamics Tools (FDT s) Quantitative Fire Hazard Analysis Methods for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Fire Protection Inspection Program,” (NUREG-1805.1, June 2005).

INSTRUCTOR
Dr. David J. Icove , Adjunct Assistant Professor, Engineering, University of Tennessee, and Technical Staff, UT Computational Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, regularly teaches academic and professional courses on enclosure fire dynamics, computer fire modeling, and electronics instrumentation. He is a Registered Professional Engineer (Fire Protection Engineering) and a Certified Fire and Explosion Investigator.