Following on from some earlier discussions with Colleen on things to fix or add to B-Risk, she and BRANZ need some ideas and an idea of how important it is to users. So, what would you like B-risk to do?
Some ideas for starters
Colleen knows about the random bug that resets your T3 fire to a T2 fire but it is hard to find why. You can tell as your rack storage fire acts like a smouldering fire, but annoying…
Add an option to auto export the .xls spreadsheet with each run so you don’t have to remember to push the button, and maybe include graphs as Branzfire used to do.
Add automatic beam detector activation based on beam length and upper layer obscuration and fire offset, as these are different for beam and linear detectors than point detectors. The spacing is wider.
Because i was bored, I spent yesterday playing around with the NUREG THIEF model and spreadsheet (https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/nuregs/staff/sr1805/s1/) using the ceiling jet temperature at a point from B-risk as a means of assessing linear heat detection activation (e.g. Firewire). It is hard to find validation experiments but the output looks about right within the limitations on the cable data I could find. .
It would be reasonably easy (says the non programmer) to incorporate in B-Risk as a module.
Is the bug where if you place the design fire in a room other than Room 1 you get different or less severe results still present? I haven’t tested this lately.
the bug I was referring to is that you open a b-risk file and it resets to a t2 fire, so 0.00068 t@ instead of T3. It seems random. The other bug where non fire rooms default to 1 zone instead of 2 zone is apparently fixed. Latest version is 2017.04 if you haven’t checked recently.
I have always wanted a way to change the surface finishes to more than one room at a time, maybe some kind of table entry method? rather than painstakingly go though each room and do so.
Having just completed some structural fire calculations using OZone I think B-Risk could be a prime candidate to provide similar calculations and do it much better.
OZone changes from a 2 zone model to a 1 zone model when certain selectable and adjustable criteria are met. OZone also can determine a HRR curve based on a few simple settings and consume the fire load. One objective of the model is to produce a firecell time/temperature output suitable to use as input into other models (such as the Buchanan member temperature timestep model). One thing I do note is the considerable difference between the ventilation limit in B-Risk and the ventilation limit in OZone. One the face of it B-Risk should be able to do OZone type calculations with limited modifications. Colleen may have some comment on this