Advanced evacuation simulation software and its use in warships

The newly formed Escape and Evacuation Naval Authority regulates the provision of abandonment equipment and procedures for all Ministry of Defence Vessels. As such, it assures that access routes on board are evaluated early in the design process to maximize their efficiency and to eliminate, as far as possible, any congestion that might occur during escape. This analysis can be undertaken using a computer-based simulation for given escape scenarios and replicates the layout of the vessel and the interactions between each individual and the ship structure. One such software tool that facilitates this type of analysis is maritimeEXODUS. This tool, through large scale testing and validation, emulates human shipboard behaviour during emergency scenarios; however it is largely based around the behaviour of civilian passengers and fixtures and fittings of merchant vessels. Hence there existed a clear requirement to understand the behaviour of well-trained naval personnel as opposed to civilian passengers and be able to model the fixtures and fittings that are exclusive to warships, thus allowing improvements to both maritimeEXODUS and other software products. Human factor trials using the Royal Navy training facilities at Whale Island, Portsmouth were recently undertaken to collect data that improves our understanding of the aforementioned differences. It is hoped that this data will form the basis of a long-term improvement package that will provide global validation of these simulation tools and assist in the development of specific Escape and Evacuation standards for warships. © 2005: Royal Institution of Naval Architects.

Application of simulation technologies in the analysis of granular material behaviour during transport and storage

Problems in the preservation of the quality of granular material products are complex and arise from a series of sources during transport and storage. In either designing a new plant or, more likely, analysing problems that give rise to product quality degradation in existing operations, practical measurement and simulation tools and technologies are required to support the process engineer. These technologies are required to help in both identifying the source of such problems and then designing them out. As part of a major research programme on quality in particulate manufacturing computational models have been developed for segregation in silos, degradation in pneumatic conveyors, and the development of caking during storage, which use where possible, micro-mechanical relationships to characterize the behaviour of granular materials. The objective of the work presented here is to demonstrate the use of these computational models of unit processes involved in the analysis of large-scale processes involving the handling of granular materials. This paper presents a set of simulations of a complete large-scale granular materials handling operation, involving the discharge of the materials from a silo, its transport through a dilute-phase pneumatic conveyor, and the material storage in a big bag under varying environmental temperature and humidity conditions. Conclusions are drawn on the capability of the computational models to represent key granular processes, including particle size segregation, degradation, and moisture migration caking.

Multiphysics modelling of the metals casting process

Metals casting is a process governed by the interaction of a range of physical phenomena. Most computational models of this process address only what are conventionally regarded as the primary phenomena-heat conduction and solidification. However, to predict the formation of porosity (a factor of key importance in cast quality) requires the modelling of the interaction of the fluid flow, heat transfer, solidification and the development of stress-deformation in the solidified part of a component. In this paper, a model of the casting process is described which addresses all the main continuum phenomena involved in a coupled manner. The model is solved numerically using novel finite volume unstructured mesh techniques, and then applied to both the prediction of shape deformation (plus the subsequent formation of a gap at the metal-mould interface and its impact on the heat transfer behaviour) and porosity formation in solidifying metal components. Although the porosity prediction model is phenomenologically simplistic it is based on the interaction of the continuum phenomena and yields good comparisons with available experimental results. This work represents the first of the next generation of casting simulation tools to predict aspects of the structure of cast components.

Data collection in support of the modelling of naval vessels

Evacuation analysis of passenger and commercial shipping can be undertaken using computer-based simulation tools such as maritimeEXODUS. These tools emulate human shipboard behaviour during emergency scenarios; however it is largely based around the behaviour of civilian passengers and fixtures and fittings of merchant vessels. If these tools and procedures are to be applied to naval vessels there is a clear requirement to understand the behaviour of well-trained naval personnel interacting with the fixtures and fittings that are exclusive to warships. Human factor trials using Royal Navy training facilities were recently undertaken to collect data to improve our understanding of the performance of naval personnel in warship environments. The trials were designed and conducted by staff from the Fire Safety Engineering Group (FSEG) of the University of Greenwich on behalf of the Sea Technology Group (STG), Defence Procurement Agency. The trials involved a selection of RN volunteers with sea-going experience in warships, operating and traversing structural components under different angles of heel. This paper describes the trials and some of the collected data.

Design and modeling challenges for high density packaging

Today most of the IC and board designs are undertaken using two-dimensional graphics tools and rule checks. System-in-package is driving three-dimensional design concepts and this is posing a number of challenges for electronic design automation (EDA) software vendors. System-in-package requires three-dimensional EDA tools and design collaboration systems with appropriate manufacturing and assembly rules for these expanding technologies. Simulation and Analysis tools today focus on one aspect of the design requirement, for example, thermal, electrical or mechanical. System-in-Package requires analysis and simulation tools that can easily capture the complex three dimensional structures and provided integrated fast solutions to issues such as thermal management, reliability, electromagnetic interference, etc. This paper discusses some of the challenges faced by the design and analysis community in providing appropriate tools to engineers for System-in-Package design

Coupled fire/evacuation analysis of the Station Nightclub fire

In this paper, coupled fire and evacuation simulation tools are used to simulate the Station Nightclub fire. This study differs from the analysis conducted by NIST in three key areas; (1)an enhanced flame spread model and (2)a toxicity generation model are used, (3)the evacuation is coupled to the fire simulation. Predicted early burning locations in the full-scale fire simulation are in line with photographic evidence and the predicted onset of flashover is similar to that produced by NIST. However, it is suggested that both predictions of the flashover time are approximately 15 sec earlier than actually occurred. Three evacuation scenarios are then considered, two of which are coupled with the fire simulation. The coupled fire and evacuation simulation suggests that 180 fatalities result from a building population of 460. With a 15 sec delay in the fire timeline, the evacuation simulation produces 84 fatalities which are in good agreement with actual number of fatalities. An important observation resulting from this work is that traditional fire engineering ASET/RSET calculations which do not couple the fire and evacuation simulations have the potential to be considerably over optimistic in terms of the level of safety achieved by building designs.

The numerical simulation of aircraft evacuation and its application to aircraft design and certification

Computer based mathematical models describing the aircraft evacuation process have a vital role to play in the design and development of safer aircraft, in the implementation of safer and more rigorous certification criteria and in cabin crew training and post mortuum accident investigation. As the risk of personal injury and costs involved in performing large-scale evacuation experiments for the next generation `Ultra High Capacity Aircraft' (UHCA) are expected to be high, the development and use of these evacuation modelling tools may become essential if these aircraft are to prove a viable reality. This paper describes the capabilities and limitations of the airEXODUS evacuation model and some attempts at validation, including its successful application to the prediction of a recent certification trial, prior to the actual trial taking place, is described. Also described is a newly defined parameter known as OPS which can be used as a measure of evacuation trial optimality. In addition, sample evacuation simulations in the presence of fire atmospheres are described.

The numerical simulation of aircraft evacuation and its application to aircraft design and certification

Computer based mathematical models describing the aircraft evacuation process have a vital role to play in the design and development of safer aircraft, the implementation of safer and more rigorous certification criteria, in cabin crew training and post-mortem accident investigation. As the risk of personal injury and the costs involved in performing large-scale evacuation experiments for the next generation ultra high capacity aircraft (UHCA) are expected to be high, the development and use of these evacuation modelling tools may become essential if these aircraft are to prove a viable reality. This paper describes the capabilities and limitations of the airEXODUS evacuation model and some attempts at validation, including its successful application to the prediction of a recent certification trial, prior to the actual trial taking place. Also described is a newly defined performance parameter known as OPS that can be used as a measure of evacuation trial optimality. In addition, sample evacuation simulations in the presence of fire atmospheres are described.

Assessing the scalability of multiphysics tools for modeling solidification and melting processes on parallel clusters

A comprehensive solution of solidification/melting processes requires the simultaneous representation of free surface fluid flow, heat transfer, phase change, nonlinear solid mechanics and, possibly, electromagnetics together with their interactions, in what is now known as multiphysics simulation. Such simulations are computationally intensive and the implementation of solution strategies for multiphysics calculations must embed their effective parallelization. For some years, together with our collaborators, we have been involved in the development of numerical software tools for multiphysics modeling on parallel cluster systems. This research has involved a combination of algorithmic procedures, parallel strategies and tools, plus the design of a computational modeling software environment and its deployment in a range of real world applications. One output from this research is the three-dimensional parallel multiphysics code, PHYSICA. In this paper we report on an assessment of its parallel scalability on a range of increasingly complex models drawn from actual industrial problems, on three contemporary parallel cluster systems.