See below.

J L Mazerat Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Do you have information as to why the
> CFIcalculator was taken down? It is my
> understanding that the person that designed it is
> trying to bring it back.
>
> According to NIST work that I just read, thanks
> cad, they ay one must first know the ignition
> source and the energy release rate of the ignition
> source before one can use the Fire Dynamic
> Simulator (FDS) modeling program. I understand
> what they are trying to do with the CFIcalculator
> is to evaluate the origin of the fire by testing
> the source of ignition but what it seems like that
> program is doing is leaving out the source of
> ignition and starting with the first fuel ignited.
> If that fuel does not produce an answer based on
> the program that compares to what took place the
> the origin is wrong.

There is more than one way to specify a fire in FDS. So your undestanding is only partially correct.

CFIcalculator is a suite of correlations associated with many different fire phenomenon. It is a tool that can be used to test different hypotheses. One of the tests (an important one!) of an origin hypothesis is if the hypothesized first fuel ignited can cause the fire damage experienced in the time frame experienced.One only assumes that the first item is ignited by a competent ignition source, thus, the ignition source is irrelevant.

>
> My problem is that unless one has a video, as they
> did in the Station Nightclub, then there is
> nothing to match the results of the computer
> program to as to validating it findings.

There are other ways to calibrate a fire model. One can use fire test data also.

Douglas J. Carpenter, MScFPE, CFEI, PE, FSFPE
Vice President & Principal Engineer
Combustion Science & Engineering, Inc.
8940 Old Annapolis Road, Suite L
Columbia, MD 21045
(410) 884-3266
(410) 884-3267 (fax)
www.csefire.com