Two plume formulae commonly used in fire safety engineering design were assessed by simulating the aerodynamics induced by a fire. The self-developed fire field model CY-TEAM, based on a modified two-equation k-" turbulence model, was used to predict the air flow and temperature field. Twelve simulations of varying heat release rate and perimeter of fire, with bounded and unbounded ceiling, were carried out. It is found that the power law for the mass flux with height holds. At the plume region, the two equations for mass flux would give the same result for those fires with heat release rate related to its perimeter. Results were compared with experimental data and with another set of simulations with finer grids. Further, part of the results are compared with those predicted by the new fire field model FDS based on large eddy simulation developed at Building and Fire Research Laboratory, National Institute of Standards and Technology, USA. Good agreement among k-" turbulence model, large eddy simulation model and experimental data were found. A further verification on CY-TEAM in studying plume induced by heptane pool fires was reported.
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