Fluid-structure simulations for a 2D fire application

This study is on the development of numerical algorithms and models for simulation of a structure response in a fire. The flow field from the fire plume is modeled using the 2D Navier-Stokes equations supplemented with a transport equation for thermal energy and solved using a vorticity-streamfunction approach. Coupling of the fluid to the FEM based structure model is based on the use of a level set method describing the structure geometry in the fluid domain. The level set function allows for computation of normal gradients at the fluid-solid interface to enforce local boundary conditions of heat and mass transfer at prescribed fluid-structure coupling time increments. Numerical simulations of a two-dimensional composite cantilever beam subject to convection heat loading from a fire plume are presented requiring coupling of both the thermal and mass transfer processes at the fluid-structure interface. Results are presented showing the thermal response of a composite beam to a fire plume and the sensitivity of the heating to fire location.