FireFOAM simulation of a localised fire in a gallery

Thermal marks were identified on the walls of the Chauvet-Pont d'Arc cave. In order to reproduce similar thermo-alterations, an experiment was carried out. The interests being archaeological, the chosen location was a natural gallery. Then, the combustion consisted in a localised wood fire within a quarry. The experimental site was instrumented and temperatures, velocities, gases concentrations and soot deposits were measured. A comparison between the experiment and a FireFOAM simulation is performed. Thanks to photogrammetry, the simulation takes place within the exact geometry of the quarry. FireFOAM manages to produce significant results that are largely in good agreement with experimental data. The encountered difficulties are also exposed as well as the corresponding solutions. The appropriate care taken to reach convenient results is detailed. Especially, a boundary condition expressing energy balance at a wall has been added to the software. Moreover, the existing thermocouple model has been modified in order to reach relevant corrected temperatures. In order to calculate the soot deposition, the Beresnev-Chernyak model has been implemented in FireFOAM. Finally, the hazard of toxicity, radiation and heat are also estimated by means of the fractional effective dose approach (FED). (paper)