Cost-effective fire mitigation solutions with CFD software, KFX™

Maintaining safety without costly interruptions

Deluge system maintenance often requires onshore and offshore installations to shut down for extended periods. However, with the advanced simulation technology of KFX, operators can design alternative fire mitigation strategies that maintain safety levels and avoid costly interruptions. DNV’s computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software KFX delivers reliable, real-world insights for designing and evaluating fire mitigation systems.

The improved designs made using KFX deliver significant economic benefits while ensuring robust fire protection.

Designing water-based fire mitigation strategies

Water remains one of the most effective tools for fire protection, whether through direct cooling or suppression. KFX enables detailed simulation and performance analysis of various water-based systems, including deluge setups, fire monitors, water mist systems and water curtains.

Beyond system design, KFX also evaluates how water affects smoke generation and dispersion. These insights are critical for ensuring safe escape conditions, maintaining visibility for helicopter operations and protecting personnel during emergency scenarios.

Solving complex fire safety challenges

Some fire scenarios present complex challenges that traditional solutions cannot address. KFX has been instrumental in solving such cases. For example, engineers used KFX to assess the risk of cantilever collapse during a fire on a production platform. The simulation revealed that even a limited fire could pose a serious threat – but also showed that simple monitor-based solutions could effectively mitigate the risk.

In another case, KFX was used to compare temporary monitor configurations with conventional deluge systems. The analysis helped identify solutions that allowed deluge maintenance to proceed without halting production. These simulations also provided valuable data on how water-based mitigation strategies influence the overall risk landscape.

The science that KFX water spray modelling is based on

At the heart of KFX fire simulations is a sophisticated Lagrangian spray model. This model accounts for droplet size and distribution, nozzle characteristics and interactions with turbulence and combustion processes. It also includes the effects of soot production, radiation and the cooling of solid surfaces impacted by water droplets.

The model has been rigorously validated through large-scale testing involving jet fires, spray fires and pool fires. This proves that KFX delivers reliable, real-world insights that are critical for engineers designing and evaluating fire mitigation systems.