Computational fluid dynamics modelling of hydrocarbon fires in open environments: Literature review

Hydrocarbon fuels are involved in most major fire accidents occurring in industrial facilities. Due to the need for an in-depth understanding of the phenomena associated with hydrocarbon fires, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modelling has been widely employed in the field of fire risk analysis over the last decades. The aim of the present review is to provide the reader with a comprehensive compilation and discussion of the most important aspects involving CFD modelling to simulate hydrocarbon fires in open environments. The fire sizes simulated, the fuels used, the codes employed, the variables of interest measured, the simulation purposes and the results accuracy have been examined through a wide literature survey, which includes peer-reviewed journals and congress papers dating from the 90s until now.