Introduction to building fire modeling with OpenFOAM
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Next online session:
September 8 , 15, and 22 (Tuesday, Tuesday, Tuesday), 2026.
06h-9h Pacific (Arizona, US) = 15h-18h CET (Italy) = 21h-24h Singapore.
Cost = 1200 USD Industry, 600 USD academia.
This course is delivered in collaboration with Tonkomo LLC and Tian Building Engineering.
To book your seat send an email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
For organizational details, please contact us by email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Modeling building fires with CFD is important because it allows engineers to predict how heat, smoke, and toxic gases will move through complex geometries under realistic fire scenarios, which is critical for life safety and structural resilience.
By using advanced CFD fire solvers such as OpenFOAM, researchers and practitioners can couple turbulence, heat generation, radiation, and ventilation effects in a single, physics based model. These simulations support performance based design of buildings by enabling virtual testing of different layouts and smoke control strategies, helping to verify code compliance, optimize evacuation routes, and identify high risk zones before construction or retrofit. Because OpenFOAM is open source without license fees, high fidelity simulations can be completed cost effectively.
In this training, we’ll use heat, mass, and momentum source terms to simulate heat transfer and soot formation in both compartment and car park fires. The course will survey practical tools and techniques you can apply to real-world building fire safety problems. All examples and exercises will be based on OpenFOAM v2512/v2606.
Topics to be covered:
Review of OpenFOAM case setup, with a focus on heat transfer applications
Detailed modeling of the Steckler Room compartment fire:
- Mesh generation using snappyHexMesh
- Definition of boundary and initial conditions
- Configuration of fvSchemes and fvSolution
- Simulation of fire dynamics using heat and scalar source terms, including radiation
- Application of RANS and LES turbulence models
- Implementation of conjugate heat transfer
- Execution of both transient and steady-state simulations
- Post-processing using ParaView and Python
- Validation through comparison of velocity and temperature fields with experimental data
Detailed modeling of a car park fire:
- Application of key techniques developed in the Steckler Room case
- Simulation of ventilation systems using jet fans
Download the course flyer at this link
Additional information:
Prerequisites: beginning knowledge of CFD, OpenFOAM, and Linux is required. Some basic knowledge of Python, C++ and shell scripting is beneficial. We will have a brief review of the Linux command line, OpenFOAM case setup and meshing to refresh beginner users, but this class is not a substitution for introductory OpenFOAM training. This class does not cover the simulation of chemistry or species transport. If you are interested in these topics, please consider our advanced training class on chemical processes and combustion.
Language: English
Training material: every participant will have access to the lecture notes (in pdf format) and all the supporting material (tutorials and videos).
Teaching method: lectures and hands-on sessions to validate the acquired knowledge.
Additional notes:
Cancellations will not be accepted.
The course is delivered online and live.
All training sessions will be recorded and shared with the participants for their private use.
Attendees are required to have all applications installed.
To maximize the learning process, it is recommended to use two devices. One device to run all tutorials and the other device to follow the online meeting.
To deliver the training, we will use Zoom online conferencing applications, which is free on the client side.
A training certificate is provided to all attendees.
Support to install the required applications can be provided at a nominal price. Send us an email for more information.
We reserve the right to cancel a course if the minimum forum is not reached or due to undisclosed issues. In such a case, the registered participants will be notified at least three days before the starting date and refunded 100%.
Disclaimer
Wolf Dynamics and Tonkomo, LLC makes no warranty, express or implied, about the completeness, accuracy, reliability, suitability, or usefulness of the information disclosed in this training material. This training material is intended to provide general information only. Any reliance the final user place on this training material is therefore strictly at his/her own risk. Under no circumstances and under no legal theory shall Wolf Dynamics or Tonkomo, LLC be liable for any loss, damage or injury, arising directly or indirectly from the use or misuse of the information contained in this training material.