In the 16th part of the Fire Fundamentals series, we invite Randy McDermott from NIST to join us for a deep dive into turbulence and its critical role in fire dynamics modelling. We explore the physics behind turbulent combustion and how it fundamentally shapes fire behaviour, plume dynamics, and simulation accuracy.

In this episode we cover:

• Defining turbulence as the enhancement of mixing and heat transfer through the creation of eddies and instabilities
• Understanding length scales in turbulence from the integral scale to the Kolmogorov scale
• Practical considerations when choosing grid resolutions for different fire engineering applications
• How turbulence models work in Large Eddy Simulation (LES) and what they represent
• Limitations of the D* criterion for mesh sizing and why higher resolution may be needed
• Differences between pre-mixed and diffusion flames in turbulent combustion
• Time scales in fire and the concept of Damköhler number in determining combustion behaviour
• Entrainment physics at the base of fire plumes requires centimetre-scale resolution
• Why turbulence modelling ultimately determines the accuracy of fire simulations

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