Fire accident reconstruction based on LES field model by using orthogonal experimental design method

The main objective of fire accident reconstruction is to determine the fire source and find out the fire spread. The temperature and the fire spread mark are the most important information in a fire accident, the information can be fully utilized based on Large Eddy Simulation (LES) field model, which has been widely used as simulation model for fire analyses. However, this model is not popular in fire accident reconstruction because it needs lots of simulation runs, which increases the reconstruction time and cost. The use of orthogonal experimental design (OED) method as a tool to reduce the simulation runs in fire accident reconstruction is proposed in this research. An orthogonal array is selected on a discrete design space and levels are chosen from candidate values. Matrix experiments with the orthogonal array are conducted and range difference analysis is used to find out the optimum levels. The method proposed in this research is applied to a typical house fire accident as a validation. A group of optimum levels was obtained and the corresponding simulation was studied. The reconstruction results can provide a scientific foundation for accident judgements.