One of the objectives was to characterize systematically the ignition, the spread and the combustion of liquidf uel . Furthermore, the injlammation caused by rich smoke is especially taken into account. The researchfocuses on the properties of fire in an under-ventilated chamber with ventilation controlled The dominantfactors of rich smokes injlammation are the minimum amount of total hydrocarbons and the temperature.With the LES (Large Eddy Simulation) approach, the injluence of ventilation on jlame propagation inconfined areas is taken into account. Numerical models permit to predict the chemical aspects of combustion(liquid fuel 's pyrolysis, reaction in the jlame) and the thermodynamic (heat transfer and mass transferbetween the jlame and the liquid fuel). The challenge is to develop a model for more general fire which canalso handle large-scale fires. This type of model is devoted LO the setting of the equations of the problem andthe feasibility ofa complex numerical simulation. The results of the ventilated fires are in agreement with theexperimental results. ln addition 10 the theoretical difficulties of this type of problem, the practicaldifficull ies in the very long duration of computer simulations and the hig'" calculation 's cost must be added
