NextVIS
NextVIS Visibility Prediction Framework – a next-generation model for visibility in smoke in the built environment
Domestic project:
Acronym: NextVIS
Programme: the ITB research project, financed under the "OPUS 20 LAP" competition by the National Science Centre in Kraków, implemented in international cooperation on the basis of the Lead Agency Procedure
Contract No.: UMO-2020/39/I/ST8/03159
Project implementation period of time: 18. 01. 2022 – 17. 01. 2026
Total value of the project: PLN 1 059 814
ITB’s budget: PLN 1 059 814
Coordinator on behalf of ITB: Wojciech Węgrzyński PhD, DSc, associate professor
Short description: the following activities have been planned as part of the project:
- Preparation of next-generation visibility in smoke experiments
- Visibility Prediction Framework (VPF) model development
- Experiments on the visibility in smoke in compartments
- Model evaluation and validation
- Use of VPF for computing visibility in a built environment
The main goal of the project is to develop a new model of visibility in smoke. The model will be made available in the form of the Visibility Prediction Framework platform, which will allow for processing numerical modelling results in context of visibility, and thus will be used in determining the fire safety of buildings.
As part of the research, a physical model of the interaction of light with smoke particles will be used in place of the existing simple relation linking the smoke concentration with visibility. This will allow to precisely define what the tested object will look like (evacuation sign, exit, obstacle) in the eyes of the evacuating person. Thanks to this simulation, "visibility maps" will be obtained in many places in the building, in which areas where visibility is good or bad will be marked. It will be possible to find solutions tailored to each building, such as the use of larger escape signs or a change in the emergency lighting strategy. A modern tool will be created that will enable the design of fire-safe buildings and will contribute to the development of fire science.
The project is carried out in cooperation with the team headed by Dr. rer. nat. Lukas Arnold University of Wuppertal (BUW), Germany.
