NEW IMPROVEMENTS TO MFIRE TO ENHANCE FIRE MODELING CAPABILITIES

Area of Science:

• Mine safety engineering
• Computational fluid dynamics
• Fire science

Background:

• The Mine Fire And REal-time simulation (MFIRE) program is a standard for mine fire simulation.
• MFIRE 3.0 was a major update, but its fire modeling algorithms were not improved.
• Previous versions of MFIRE were developed in FORTRAN, but MFIRE 3.0 was rewritten in C++.

Purpose of the Study:

• To report on improvements made to the fire modeling capabilities of MFIRE 3.0.
• To introduce new features for more accurate mine fire simulations.
• To enhance the prediction of fire and contaminant spread in mines.

Main Methods:

• Addition of t-squared fire and heat release rate curve data file models.
• Incorporation of a moving fire source for conveyor belt fire simulations.
• Improvement of the fire location algorithm and prediction of smoke rollback.

Main Results:

• Enhanced fire source modeling capabilities.
• Improved simulation of dynamic fire scenarios, such as conveyor belt fires.
• Better prediction of smoke behavior, including rollback phenomena.

Conclusions:

• The reported improvements will significantly enhance MFIRE's accuracy in mine fire simulations.
• These upgrades will aid in better mine fire planning and response.
• The updated MFIRE 3.1 version will provide more robust tools for mine safety.