Up in Flames

Team: 4

School: Alamogordo High

Area of Science: Physics/Engineering

Interim: Team Number: 1019
School Name: Alamogordo High School
Area of Science: Physics/Engineering
Project Title: Up in Flames

Problem Definition:
Up in Flames is a simulation of what would occur if a fire were to break out in a Wal-Mart Super Center. Currently the planned layout of Wal-Mart is that the most bought items are towards the back of the store because Wal-Mart wants to increase profits. The spread of fire in a building such as Wal-Mart can be extremely dangerous due to flammable materials that are spread throughout the store. Currently the safety precautions in Wal-Mart are a sprinkler system and a fire alarm.
The goal of this project is to find the safest lay out for Wal-Mart in case a fire was to occur. Our team would like to run several “runs” of the designed program to find the safest are of the building. We also would like to simulate how effective a sprinkler system and a fire alarm is in both making the tenants of the store aware and putting out the flame.

Problem Solution:
The environment in which the project will be conducted, is a model of the floor-plan of Wal-Mart in which we will have a fire spreading throughout the building. The computer would show the spread of a fire at a certain rate based on the layout of the goods throughout the store and a random location within the store for the fire to start. The fire would be spreading at a certain rate depending on the surrounding environment based off of if the products near by were highly flammable or not as flammable. Once the fire reaches a certain magnitude the sprinkler system and fire alarm would activate alerting the remainders of the populace within the store.

Progress to Date:
Presently, a model of Wal-Mart has been created based off of the floor plan of Alamogordo’s local Wal-Mart using the program Microsoft Paint. The model of Wal-Mart has been imported successfully into the NetLogo program.

Expected Results:
After programming, testing, and refining of the fire system model of Wal-Mart it could show the safest layout of the store. The model will show the most effective way to evacuate the store based on a number of locations where a fire could start. It will also display the effectiveness of the implemented sprinkler system and fire alarm in helping with fire safety. We expect that the current layout of the store could be updated to a much safer placement of goods.

Team Members: Matt McNeile and Kelly Phillips

Sponsoring Teacher: Rita Kujawa-Holsten and Albert Simon

Team Members:

  Matt McNeile
  Kelly Phillips

Sponsoring Teacher: Rita Kujawa-Holsten

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