Software for Architecture, Engineering and Construction

The company for Architecture, Engineering and Construction software CYPE will develop, during this year, a software capable of modeling and recreating, virtually, the probable fire propagation in a building, analyzing the smoke and heat propagation as well. This project, which is based on the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) model: Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS) developed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST, USA), will perform a dynamic simulation of the fire's evolution, specifying the way in which the flames and fire might interfere in the building's evacuation lanes.

This way, the new program will allow the designers and security departments to know, beforehand, the probable evolution of fires inside the building, as well as identifying the improvements that can be carried out in the construction's design in order to potentiate the user's and facilities' security. For this, the program will also calculate the propagation time and the probable temperatures in determined areas of the building.

In the opinion of the Director of Corporate Development of CYPE, Benjamín Gonzalez, "there are many factors which influence in the building's security in case of fire" and, among them, he highlights "the concentration of fire, since some of the higher levels might impede the correct evacuation and put the occupant's integrity at risk". The width of the hallways, the quality of the materials or the installation of fire protection will be some of the parameters that will be taken into account by this software which "will be linked to all the programs already developed by CYPE, and will allow the designer to verify and visualize his design along with the standards required by the Technical Building Code (Código Técnico de la Edificación)".

The informatics program will also have the capacity to place the seat of the fire at any point in the building to verify that the evacuation is viable and will be applicable to already built buildings, which will "check" if the design applied to the building can be improved despite of satisfying the regulations in force. According to Benjamín González, "now-a-days there is no similar technology", which is why the program will be presented to the Fire Department and technicians responsible for the design of extinction systems.

This ambitious project devised by CYPE has been valued by the Center for Industrial and Technological Development (CDTI), whose officials have finance the execution of this informatics tool, with a development cost estimated in 597.000 euro. This way, the company for Architecture, Engineering and Construction software will develop its second program with the aid of CDTI, since last year they received another aid to develop a software which allows the designers to reduce by 10% the energy consumption in buildings.

CYPE develops a software that recreates the fire and smoke propagation in a building to improve the construction's security and guarantee evacuation