Question: Zone temperature handling in stand-alone ContamX vs. co-simulation

[KH Lee]

Hello CONTAM Support Team,

I am using CONTAM (ContamX) for multizone smoke/ventilation analysis, and I would like to confirm how zone air temperatures are handled in stand-alone ContamX versus coupled simulations.

For reference, I’m running CONTAM on Windows 11 (64-bit) and currently using CONTAM 3.4.0.6.

1. In stand-alone ContamX, if I provide a time-dependent temperature schedule only for the fire zone, can ContamX calculate time-varying temperatures in adjacent zones due to inter-zone airflow (e.g., mixing/advection of hot gases)?
   Or must temperatures for all zones always be prescribed (constant/schedule) unless an external tool provides them?

2. If stand-alone ContamX does not predict adjacent-zone temperatures, what approach do you recommend for representing adjacent-zone temperature changes?

   • Co-simulation: Is it recommended to use co-simulation (e.g., EnergyPlus or TRNSYS) to compute zone temperatures and pass them to ContamX?

   • Hand-calculated schedules: If co-simulation is not feasible, is it acceptable or recommended to input analytically/hand-calculated temperature schedules for adjacent zones (based on experimental fire-zone temperature data and simplified heat-balance assumptions)? If yes, are there any best-practice references or example projects you can point me to?

Any guidance (and pointers to relevant documentation or example files) would be greatly appreciated.

Best regards,
K. Lee

South Korea

[Dols, William Stuart (Fed)]

See my answers below.

- Stuart

 

W. Stuart Dols
National Institute of Standards and Technology
Engineering Laboratory
Indoor Air Quality and Ventilation Group
100 Bureau Drive
Gaithersburg, MD 20899-8633

 

From: con...@list.nist.gov <con...@list.nist.gov> On Behalf Of KH Lee
Sent: Wednesday, January 28, 2026 3:40 PM
To: con...@list.nist.gov
Subject: [EXTERNAL] [contam] Question: Zone temperature handling in stand-alone ContamX vs. co-simulation

 

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Hello CONTAM Support Team,

I am using CONTAM (ContamX) for multizone smoke/ventilation analysis, and I would like to confirm how zone air temperatures are handled in stand-alone ContamX versus coupled simulations.

For reference, I’m running CONTAM on Windows 11 (64-bit) and currently using CONTAM 3.4.0.6.

1. In stand-alone ContamX, if I provide a time-dependent temperature schedule only for the fire zone, can ContamX calculate time-varying temperatures in adjacent zones due to inter-zone airflow (e.g., mixing/advection of hot gases)?

[Dols, William Stuart (Fed)] No, CONTAM does not perform heat transfer calculations.

Or must temperatures for all zones always be prescribed (constant/schedule) unless an external tool provides them?

[Dols, William Stuart (Fed)] That is correct.

2. If stand-alone ContamX does not predict adjacent-zone temperatures, what approach do you recommend for representing adjacent-zone temperature changes?

o    Co-simulation: Is it recommended to use co-simulation (e.g., EnergyPlus or TRNSYS) to compute zone temperatures and pass them to ContamX?

[Dols, William Stuart (Fed)] This is recommended for addressing the heat transfer associated with HVAC systems. I have not utilized such co-simulation for the analysis of fire scenarios.

• Hand-calculated schedules: If co-simulation is not feasible, is it acceptable or recommended to input analytically/hand-calculated temperature schedules for adjacent zones (based on experimental fire-zone temperature data and simplified heat-balance assumptions)? If yes, are there any best-practice references or example projects you can point me to?

[Dols, William Stuart (Fed)] You may find more information in the literature, but you can start here:
Strege, Steven, and Michael Ferreira. “Characterization of Stack Effect in High-Rise Buildings Under Winter Conditions, Including the Impact of Stairwell Pressurization.” Fire Technology 53, no. 1 (2017): 211–26. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10694-016-0562-x.

Any guidance (and pointers to relevant documentation or example files) would be greatly appreciated.

[Dols, William Stuart (Fed)]  There are also the NIST-developed FDS and CFAST tools available (https://www.nist.gov/services-resources/software/fds-and-smokeview).

Best regards,
K. Lee

South Korea

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