Comparison of various CFD solvers using experimental data for the validation of a tunnel fire scenario

Available data from full scale fire tests were used for the validation of two different CFD solvers. These solvers were tested and compared against each other with the aim of deriving a 3D CFD model that is set up as simple as possible to reduce the computational effort, but still provides sufficient accuracy for a valid prediction of smoke propagation in tunnels. The tested solvers are Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS) and CONVERGE. While FDS is a widely used tool for numerical studies on tunnel fires, CONVERGE is widely used in several reactive-flow applications, such as internal combustion engines and gas turbines. However, the simulation of the Koralm tunnel fire tests showed that both CFD
codes are reliable and provided accurate results. Nevertheless, there are
differences in terms of modeling, in the computational effort as well as in handling the solvers.