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Development of Smoke
Management Systems
moke control has been a concern of became popular, requiring additional smoke restriction. Atria and covered malls are
Bottom pressurization with the vesti- Smoke Management and Atria A system designer needs to decide
bule pressurized were reported by Zinn, Smoke management design for atria is whether the fire will be considered a steady
Bankston, Cassanova, Powell, and more complicated because of the number fire or an unsteady fire. A steady fire has a
Koplon. 13 The article reports on fire tests of factors that affect air and smoke move- constant heat release rate. An unsteady fire
conducted at the Henry Grady Hotel in ment. In simple terms, however, the smoke is one that varies with respect to time. Fire
Atlanta. The report concluded that stair- management systems for atria rely on Protection engineers often use a "t-
well pressurization at a maximum of 0.15 chimney and venting technology. Atrium squared" approximation for unsteady fires.
inches of water column combined with ves- smoke management considerations and A "t-squared" fire is one in which the burn-
tibule pressurization prevented smoke design criteria are found in NFPA 92B ing rate varies proportionally with the
movement from the fire area to the stairwell (199la) 6 and Design of Smoke Manage- square of time. "T-squared" fires are
with the stairwell doors closed. In addition, ment Systems. 8 Tho of the model codes classed by speed of growth, as ultra-fast,
the open-door flow rate used by stairwell (BOCA;1993 14 ICBO 1994 15 ) have fast, medium and slow, based on the time
and vestibule supply fans prevented the adopted atrium smoke management sys- to reach a heat release rate of 1,000 Btu/sec
movement of smoke into the stairwell when tem requirements based on NFPA 92B (1,055 kW).
the vestibule and stairwell doors were held (199la). 6 The ICBO provisions have been In the absence of specific heat release
open to the fire area for several minutes. No criticized on the basis that there is a lack of rate data, one should assume a steady fire.
more than three doors were opened into the any fire Joss history to support the need for This will yield a more conservative result
stairwell at a time. The effectiveness of the elaborate smoke control systems. Some than using an unsteady fire. An ·average
system is in doubt if additional doors were have also taken the position that designers heat release rate for the design fuel area
open, which must be assumed during an using the Code will rely on automatic sprin- could be estimated. This is the approach
emergency evacuation. klers fo r fire control when calculating the used in BOCA 14 and ICBO. 15 BOCA uses
The report also stated that stairwell smoke management system and that it is 4,400 Btu/s (4640kW) for mercantile,
door measurements show that the pressure unlikely that additional smoke manage- storage and industrial occupancies and
losses are large when a single fan pressu- ment will be necessary for life safety in such 2,000 Btu/s (2110 kW) for residential and
rized a vertical shaft in a multi-story build- cases, making the cost of a smoke manage- other occupancies; ICBO uses 50 Btu/ft. 2.
ing. "Such an arrangement requires ment system complying with the ICBO s (567 kW/m2) for mercantile and residen-
unacceptably high pressures near the sup- requirements unjustifiable. It is clear that tial and 25 Btu/ft. 2 • s (284 kW/m2) for
ply fan in order to maintain necessary mini- atrium smoke management requirements offices. In each case, the assumed fire size
mum pressures at the opposite end of the will continue to receive attention in the is 100 square feet (9.3m 2). This is a
shaft. The use of several smaller fans is a model codes. reasonable assumption for typical spaces
possible alternative to the single-fan protected by automatic sprinklers.
approach. A multi-fan system will require Design Approach
the determination of the number, size and Smoke Production
location of fans for optimum pressuriza- To properly design smoke manage-
ment for a large space, one needs to know Having determined the fire size, one
tion conditions. The multi-fan scheme can calculate the rate of smoke production
would also probably reduce the shaft region the heat release rate of the expected fire to
determine the fire size. From that, one can using equations such as those found in
affected by large pressure tops to open NFPA 92B. 6 This is the approach used by
doors~'
estimate the amount of smoke based on the
composition of standard building materi- BOCA. It establishes a design criteria that
These techniques have been integrated the smoke management system keep the
and applied in building code requirements als. It is then possible to calculate the time
for smoke to reach a point that could smoke layer interface above the highest
such as those of BOCA 14 and ICB0. 15 unprotected opening to adjoining spaces or
BOCA 14 requires sprinklers, pressur- endanger the occupants and to compare
that time to the egress time. If the smoke six feel above the highest floor level of exit
ized stairs, or smokeproof enclosures and access open to the atrium. ICBO requires
HVAC system control for high-rise build- layer time is less than the egress time, a
smoke management system should be pro- this distance to be ten feet (3 m). The
ings. No additional smoke control is BOCA criteria requires that the smoke be
required on the basis that the aforemen- vided to exhaust smoke at a minimum of
the rate at which the smoke is produced. controlled at or above the six feet (1.8 m)
tioned provisions provide adequate life level for not less than 20 minutes (1,200
safety in the absence of floor openings such Design Fire sec). BOCA contains a calculation method
as atria. based on NFPA 92B6 to.evaluate compli-
ICB0 15 has similar requirements for As previously noted, the starting point
for smoke management system ca:Jculations ance with the criteria as follows:
high-rise buildings, except pressurized stairs
is determining the size of the fire. The pur-
.require vestibules. High-rise buildings
require smoke control, designed using an pose is to determine the heat release rate. Z = 0.67H - 0.28Hln [ tQY~H'h]
approach based on NPPA 92A 7 and Until recently, heat release rate data for
NFPA 92B6 • The system is required to be common objects and the means to use this In SI,
designed, installed and tested with the
intention of providing a tenable environ-
data were not in a form readily available to
de~ign engineers. There is information Z = l.llH - 0.28H In [ tQY~H'h]
ment for the evacuation or relocation of available now, in NFPA 92B6 , the SFPE
occupants during a fire. The code contains Handbook 16 and the NFPA Handbook. 17 where:
equations from the NFPA documents to be One could also estimate heat release rate Z = Height from floor to the smoke
used to accomplish the objective. from fire tests. interface, feet(m).
References
1. McGuire, J.H. 1%7a. Smoke Movement in
Buildings. Fire Technology 3(3): 163-174.
l
2. McGuire, J.H. 1967b. Control of Smoke in 9. Tamura, GT. and McGuire, J.H. 1973. The 14. BOCA. 1993. The BOCA National Building
I
1
Building Fires. Fire Technology 3(4): 281-290. pressurized building method of controlling
smoke in high-rise buildings. NRCC-13365.
3. Galbreath, M. 1968. Fire in High Buildings. Ottawa, Ontario: National Research Council of
Code. Country Qub Hills, IL: Building Officials
& Code Administrators International, Inc.
Fire study No. 21. Ottawa, Canada: National . Canada.
Research Council of Canada. 15. ICBO. 1994. The Uniform Building Code.
10. Sharry, J.A. 1973. An atrium fire. Fire Jour- Whittier, CA: International Conference of Build-
4. Jensen, R.H. High-Rise Fire Protection. nal, 67(6): 3941. Tumura, GT. and Wilson, A.G. ing Officials.
Where Do We Stand? Where Do We Go?
1970. Natural venting to control smoke move-
Proceedings Chicago Committee on High-Rise ment in buildings via vertical shafts. ASHRAE
Buildings, Sept. 1972. Report No. 2:5-17. 16. SFPE. 1988. Handbook of Fire Protection
Transactions 76(2): 279-289.
engineering. Boston, MA: Society of Fire Protec-
5. ASHRAE. 1994. Commissioning smoke man- tion Engineers.
agement systems. ASHRAE Guideline 5. 11. Fung, F.CW. 1973. Evaluation of a pressu-
Atlanta: American Society of Heating, Refriger- rized stairwell smoke control system for a
ating and Air-Conditioning Engineers, Inc. 12-story apartment building. NBSIR 73277. 17. NFPA. 199lb. Fire protection Handbook,
Gaithersburg, MD: National Bureau of 17th ed. Quincy, MA: National Fire Protection
6. NFPA. l 991a. Guide for smoke management Standards. Association. ·
systems in malls, atria, and large areas. NFPA
92B. Quincy, MA: National Fire Protection 12. DeCiccio, P.R., Cresci, R.J., and Correale,
Association. W.H. 1972. Fire tests, analyses and evaluation of 18. NFPA. 1994. Code for safety to life from fire
stair pressurization and exhaust in high-rise in buildings and structures. NFPA 101. Quincy,
7. NFPA. 1993a. Recommended practice for buildings. Brooklyn, NY: Polytechnic Institute of MA: National Fire Protection Association.
smoke control systems. NFPA 92A Quincy, MA: Brooklyn.
National Fire Protection Association.
13. Zinn, BT., Bankston, C.P., Cassanova, R.A., 19. Fruin, J.J. 1987. Pedestrian Planning and
8. Klote, J.H. and Milke, J.A. 1992. Design of Powell, E.A., and Koplon, N.A. 1974. Fire spread Design. Mobile, AL: Elevator World, Inc. Educa-
smoke management systems. Atlanta: and smoke control in high-rise fires. Fire Tech- tional Services Division.
ASHRAE. nology 10(1):35-53.
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