Application of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and GC-MS accelerant analysis in fire investigation
Name: IGOR OLIMPIO PAZINI DA CUNHA
Type: MSc dissertation
Publication date: 05/03/2020
Advisor:
Name |
Role |
|---|---|
| VALDEMAR LACERDA JUNIOR | Advisor * |
Examining board:
| Name |
Role |
|---|---|
| MACKSUEL SOARES DE AZEVEDO | External Examiner * |
| RICARDO MACHADO KUSTER | Internal Examiner * |
| VALDEMAR LACERDA JUNIOR | Advisor * |
| WANDERSON ROMÃO | Co advisor * |
Summary: Fire investigation is a complex activity that involves skill, technology, knowledge and science and aims to elucidate events related to fire, such as cause, origin, propagation, phenomena, etc. Chemical analysis to check the presence of foreign substances in that location and the use of fire simulation software, are efficient and economical ways to study the behavior of fire during the occurrence of a fire. This work demonstrates the application of Gas Chromatography Coupled by Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) in the analysis to identify gasoline and diesel in different substrates by means of ACS and SPME extraction, as well as the application of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to assist in the elucidation of fires. The chemical analyzes carried out showed the possibility of identifying the presence of accelerators even in small quantities (1 μL) and in different types of materials (wood, polyethylene, polyurethane, polyamide and newsprint). The computational model generated by the Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS) software proved to be consistent with the data obtained at the site by the fire expert, thus serving to discard hypotheses and conclude the investigation.
