- Email: [email protected]
An Introduction to Mathematical Fire Modeling, 2nd edn.
Fire Safety Journal 36 (2001) 515}517
Book Review An Introduction to Mathematical Fire Modeling, 2nd edn. Marc L. Janssens; Technomic Publishing Co., Lancaster, PA, USA, 2000, xi, 259 pages, price $149.95 paperback, ISBN 1-56676-920-5 The theme of this book is modeling of compartment "res. A textbook on this same theme, Enclosure Fire Dynamics, written by BjoK rn Karlsson and James Quintiere, appeared about a year ago, and it might seem that the two books cover the same ground. This is true only in the broadest sense: the audiences for them are actually nearly non-overlapping. The Karlsson/Quintiere book is written for use in teaching graduate courses in "re safety engineering, and the present reviewer used it very favorably for that purpose a few years ago, teaching out of a manuscript draft. That book comprises detailed theory, example problems, and copious problems for the student; only one brief chapter was devoted to discussing computer models. Janssens' book, on the other hand, has a more condensed treatment of theory and essentially no text-based problems within the book. What it does have is a CD ROM with several versions of a computer "re model called FIRM, and the largest fraction of the book is devoted to discussing the details of that computer program. Thus, it becomes clear that it is intended for a &learn-by-doing-it' audience. This is normally how engineering technology curricula and "re service o$cer education programs are structured, so these groups are apparently the target audience. Janssens, who distinguished himself a decade ago by publishing one of the most ambitious dissertations ever seen in "re safety engineering, spent the subsequent years with the American Forest and Paper Association and with Southwest Research Institute. Just recently, he has been appointed to head the new Fire Safety Engineering Technology program at the University of North Carolina * Charlotte, so he should be well positioned to put the book into immediate use. The theory is well-developed and Janssens has a good exposition style * concepts are presented clearly and concisely. As a result, the book also has signi"cant reference value. But the author does not remember in all cases that he is addressing an audience of limited engineering background. Thus, he blithely refers to setting up conservation equations or entraining air into plumes, without considering that his audience might be mysti"ed. Even architectural terms such as &so$t' may not exist in the budding engineering technologist's knowledge base. And statements such as `The fourth-order Runge}Kutta method is equivalent to a "ve-term Taylor formulaa are unlikely to be meaningful even to most practicing engineers, let alone technologists. Throughout the book, there are implications that the reader will wish to modify the source code of the program. This seems somewhat questionable, since typical 0379-7112/01/$ - see front matter 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. PII: S 0 3 7 9 - 7 1 1 2 ( 0 1 ) 0 0 0 0 2 - 9
516
Book Review / Fire Safety Journal 36 (2001) 515}517
students in an engineering technology curriculum are unlikely to venture into "re model development. But for those individuals who do wish to develop a special purpose, yet simple, compartment "re model, the book will serve as a good launching-o! point. The author goes into a lot of detail discussing the history of Cooper's development of ASET and also outlines in some detail the changes that he has incorporated into the second edition, as compared to the original book. The last theme was helpful to this reviewer in preparing his review, but it is a bit hard to imagine that these details will be of great interest to other readers. The accompanying CD ROM contains both Windows and DOS versions of the programs. This reviewer attempted to install the programs on two computers, one using Windows 95 and the second using Windows 98. On the latter machine, installation went smoothly. In the Windows 95 machine, however, the installation procedure repeatedly failed and the publisher has not been able to identify the cause (the author explained that he successfully installed the programs on several Windows 95 machines, so the problem may be relatively rare). The programs generally work well, but do not have built-in Help menus, although the detailed nature of the book makes this non-essential. The sample problems are not copied by the installation routine to the user's hard disk, so the user must manually copy them from the CD ROM and then change their &read-only' attributes. The sample problems contain the paths for HRR input and data output "les embedded into them, which the user must manually change if he does not install the package into the C: drive. The program FIRM di!ers from ASET most signi"cantly, in that proper window #ows have been added, and ventilation can occur from windows of speci"ed size, not just from a pressure-relieving #oor crack. The other main limitation of ASET is not relieved * wall losses are not modeled. Wall and window losses are the main reason that compartment "re temperatures are not equal to the adiabatic #ame temperature of the burning fuel/air mixture. But ASET (and FIRM) are #uid-#ow models only, and neither conduction of heat through walls nor radiation openings are treated except by a heat loss fudge factor. However, the author does treat wall losses (but not window radiation loss) in the text portions. For perspective, it must be noted that Janssens' version of FIRM is a distinctly better model than the original ASET in all respects, notwithstanding the limitations that remain. Also, as the author points out, the model is most suited to representing "res that are not huge in comparison to the room volume, and is better at representing the early growth of "re rather than its later phases. Some "re models leave the user dangling in terms of heat release rate data necessary for running the model. But here, the author devotes considerable e!ort into educating the user about the types of HRR data, where to get them, and how to use them. ASTM has produced a number of guides in the area of development and use of "re models. Prof. Janssens was the chairman of the subcommittee doing that work for several years, so it is not surprising that there are several chapters in the book that deal with these aspects from the viewpoint of the ASTM guides. The book contains a number of useful appendices; these provide help in using the programs, give information to readers who would like to further develop the programs, and provide a review of pertinent engineering fundamentals.
Book Review / Fire Safety Journal 36 (2001) 515}517
517
Viewed as a paperback book of modest size, the book's price is high. But viewed as an interesting "re model, complete with source code and a notably well-developed technical manual, the price is not out of line. In addition to engineering technology and "re service curricula, it could well serve as a basis for a short course given to engineering practitioners needing a jump-start immersion into "re modeling. It is not di$cult these days to obtain a "re model, insert some numbers, and produce an output sheet. But anyone who completes a course based on Janssens' book should become a knowledgeable model user, not merely a black-box user. V. Babrauskas Fire Science & Technology Inc., 9000 300th Place SE, Issaquah, WA 98027, USA E-mail address: vyto@doctor"re.com
Book Review An Introduction to Mathematical Fire Modeling, 2nd edn. Marc L. Janssens; Technomic Publishing Co., Lancaster, PA, USA, 2000, xi, 259 pages, price $149.95 paperback, ISBN 1-56676-920-5 The theme of this book is modeling of compartment "res. A textbook on this same theme, Enclosure Fire Dynamics, written by BjoK rn Karlsson and James Quintiere, appeared about a year ago, and it might seem that the two books cover the same ground. This is true only in the broadest sense: the audiences for them are actually nearly non-overlapping. The Karlsson/Quintiere book is written for use in teaching graduate courses in "re safety engineering, and the present reviewer used it very favorably for that purpose a few years ago, teaching out of a manuscript draft. That book comprises detailed theory, example problems, and copious problems for the student; only one brief chapter was devoted to discussing computer models. Janssens' book, on the other hand, has a more condensed treatment of theory and essentially no text-based problems within the book. What it does have is a CD ROM with several versions of a computer "re model called FIRM, and the largest fraction of the book is devoted to discussing the details of that computer program. Thus, it becomes clear that it is intended for a &learn-by-doing-it' audience. This is normally how engineering technology curricula and "re service o$cer education programs are structured, so these groups are apparently the target audience. Janssens, who distinguished himself a decade ago by publishing one of the most ambitious dissertations ever seen in "re safety engineering, spent the subsequent years with the American Forest and Paper Association and with Southwest Research Institute. Just recently, he has been appointed to head the new Fire Safety Engineering Technology program at the University of North Carolina * Charlotte, so he should be well positioned to put the book into immediate use. The theory is well-developed and Janssens has a good exposition style * concepts are presented clearly and concisely. As a result, the book also has signi"cant reference value. But the author does not remember in all cases that he is addressing an audience of limited engineering background. Thus, he blithely refers to setting up conservation equations or entraining air into plumes, without considering that his audience might be mysti"ed. Even architectural terms such as &so$t' may not exist in the budding engineering technologist's knowledge base. And statements such as `The fourth-order Runge}Kutta method is equivalent to a "ve-term Taylor formulaa are unlikely to be meaningful even to most practicing engineers, let alone technologists. Throughout the book, there are implications that the reader will wish to modify the source code of the program. This seems somewhat questionable, since typical 0379-7112/01/$ - see front matter 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. PII: S 0 3 7 9 - 7 1 1 2 ( 0 1 ) 0 0 0 0 2 - 9
516
Book Review / Fire Safety Journal 36 (2001) 515}517
students in an engineering technology curriculum are unlikely to venture into "re model development. But for those individuals who do wish to develop a special purpose, yet simple, compartment "re model, the book will serve as a good launching-o! point. The author goes into a lot of detail discussing the history of Cooper's development of ASET and also outlines in some detail the changes that he has incorporated into the second edition, as compared to the original book. The last theme was helpful to this reviewer in preparing his review, but it is a bit hard to imagine that these details will be of great interest to other readers. The accompanying CD ROM contains both Windows and DOS versions of the programs. This reviewer attempted to install the programs on two computers, one using Windows 95 and the second using Windows 98. On the latter machine, installation went smoothly. In the Windows 95 machine, however, the installation procedure repeatedly failed and the publisher has not been able to identify the cause (the author explained that he successfully installed the programs on several Windows 95 machines, so the problem may be relatively rare). The programs generally work well, but do not have built-in Help menus, although the detailed nature of the book makes this non-essential. The sample problems are not copied by the installation routine to the user's hard disk, so the user must manually copy them from the CD ROM and then change their &read-only' attributes. The sample problems contain the paths for HRR input and data output "les embedded into them, which the user must manually change if he does not install the package into the C: drive. The program FIRM di!ers from ASET most signi"cantly, in that proper window #ows have been added, and ventilation can occur from windows of speci"ed size, not just from a pressure-relieving #oor crack. The other main limitation of ASET is not relieved * wall losses are not modeled. Wall and window losses are the main reason that compartment "re temperatures are not equal to the adiabatic #ame temperature of the burning fuel/air mixture. But ASET (and FIRM) are #uid-#ow models only, and neither conduction of heat through walls nor radiation openings are treated except by a heat loss fudge factor. However, the author does treat wall losses (but not window radiation loss) in the text portions. For perspective, it must be noted that Janssens' version of FIRM is a distinctly better model than the original ASET in all respects, notwithstanding the limitations that remain. Also, as the author points out, the model is most suited to representing "res that are not huge in comparison to the room volume, and is better at representing the early growth of "re rather than its later phases. Some "re models leave the user dangling in terms of heat release rate data necessary for running the model. But here, the author devotes considerable e!ort into educating the user about the types of HRR data, where to get them, and how to use them. ASTM has produced a number of guides in the area of development and use of "re models. Prof. Janssens was the chairman of the subcommittee doing that work for several years, so it is not surprising that there are several chapters in the book that deal with these aspects from the viewpoint of the ASTM guides. The book contains a number of useful appendices; these provide help in using the programs, give information to readers who would like to further develop the programs, and provide a review of pertinent engineering fundamentals.
Book Review / Fire Safety Journal 36 (2001) 515}517
517
Viewed as a paperback book of modest size, the book's price is high. But viewed as an interesting "re model, complete with source code and a notably well-developed technical manual, the price is not out of line. In addition to engineering technology and "re service curricula, it could well serve as a basis for a short course given to engineering practitioners needing a jump-start immersion into "re modeling. It is not di$cult these days to obtain a "re model, insert some numbers, and produce an output sheet. But anyone who completes a course based on Janssens' book should become a knowledgeable model user, not merely a black-box user. V. Babrauskas Fire Science & Technology Inc., 9000 300th Place SE, Issaquah, WA 98027, USA E-mail address: vyto@doctor"re.com