Lift Lobby and Staircase Pressurisation - Building Calculators

4/9/24, 6:30 PM Lift Lobby and Staircase Pressurisation | Building Calculators
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Smoke Control Using Pressurisation

Smoke control can be done through smoke extraction or pressurisation. Pressurisation is a method of
preventing smoke from entering a space that is designated as an escape path or for fire-fighting
purposes such as staircase or lift lobby by means of introducing fresh air from the external to create a
positive pressure within the space. Pressure gradient ensures that smoke will always flow from region of
high pressure to region of low pressure, away from the pressurised spaces.
Below is a calculator to help determine the total airflow required to pressurise a lift lobby and staircase,
where both staircase and lift lobbies are pressurised at the same pressure level. The calculator is
succeeded by a detailed guide on how each of the values from the calculator is computed, which helps
us understand the concept so that we can apply to all other configurations, such as "staircase only"
pressurised, or "lift lobbies only" pressurised.
The succeeding guide elaborates the method of computation of pressurisation of staircase and lift lobby
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that is commonly practiced in the industry
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construction of buildings – Part 4: Code of Practice for Smoke Control using Pressure Differentials or MS
1472:2017, Code of Practice for Fire Precautions in the Design of Buildings –Smoke Control in Protected
Escape Routes using Pressurisation.

The steps are organized to help us better understand the concept of pressurisation based on the
mentioned standards and how we determine the required airflow, hence our fan and duct/shaft size for
pressurisation.
Please find after the calculator, the guide

1 1 which explains the formulae from which we
make up the calculator.

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ift Lobby & Staircase Pressurisation ift Lobby & Staircase Pressurisation
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for this lift shaft
Total Air Leakages into Lift Shaft 2 per Lift Lobby (m3/s)
0.594
Total Effective Airdesigned

This site was Leakage into
with the Lift Shaft, AF (m3/s)
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0.7980
Total Airflow required to pressurise one Lift Lobby, QL (m3/s)
Total Airflow required to pressurise the Lift Lobby is 125% of the total air leakages across all doors in the Lift Lobby. The
25% addition of air is to cater for unidentified leakages
1.4575
Total Airflow required to pressurise the Stairwell, QS (m3/s)

Total Airflow required to pressurise the Lift Lobby is 125% of the total air leakages across all doors in the Lift Lobby. The
25% addition of air is to cater for unidentified leakages
0.158
Therefore, the total air supply by duct required to pressurise the Stairwell is
Staircase: 335 cfm
& for N levels of Pressurised Floors
Lift Lobby: 18,530 cfm

In this calculation, it is assumed that the Staircase and Lift lobby are independently Pressurised. It is also assumed that the
above supply air to pressurise the Lift Lobby and Staircase can only suffice when all leakages across doors are considered
when the doors are closed. Therefore, it is important to consider 1 door and 2 door opening in accordance to MS1472,
5.3.2.8. When doors are open, several airflow needs to be considered, they are QS, QL, QT, QA.
QS= 0.158 m3/s (Airflow supply to pressurise the Stairwell)
QL= 1.458 m3/s (Airflow supply to pressurise the ONE Lift Lobby whose
door(s) are open)
QT= 0.342 m3/s (Airflow into the Stairwell from all the Pressurised Lift
Lobbies whose doors are closed)
QA= 1.649 m3/s (Total Airflow out of all Lift Shaft from the Pressurised Lift
Lobbies whose doors are closed)
Disregard Airflow
Certain Airflow can be removed from calculation as a safety factor. Without the Airflow it is harder to achieve required
egress velocity and higher top up air is required. Check to not consider an airflow parameter
Disregard QT
Disregard QA
Disregard QA
Egress velocity - 2 Doors Open (Staircase-Lobby & Lobby-Accommodation)

For Staircase-Lobby Door
0.187 m/s
For Lobby-Accommodation Door
1.353 m/s
Since 1.353 > 1m/s, there is no need to top up our design airflow, as it is
already sufficient to cater for intermittent door openings with more than 1 m/s
velocity of air flows across.
Q Top Up (m3/s)
0.000 m3/s
Staircase Airflow
0.158 m3/s
The This
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Now
m3/s. However, we still need to test the egress velocity for 1 door open.
Initial Estimate of Area of PRD (m2)

Minimum Area of Pressure Relief Damper based on the amount of Top Up Air
0.00 m2
Egress velocity - 1 Door Open (Lobby-Accommodation Door)

For Lobby Accommodation Door
1.189 m/s
Since 1.189 > 1m/s, there is no need to top up our design airflow, as it is
already sufficient to cater for intermittent door openings with more than 1 m/s
velocity of air flows across.
Pressure Differential across Staircase-Lobby

Door during 1-door open 40 60
With fi t ti t f PRD A
With first estimate of PRD Area 20 80
34.77 Pascal 100

34.77
Pressure Differential across Staircase-Lobby A Relief Flap is required to prevent pressure build-up when
Door during 1-door open all doors are closed. The area of relief flap at Staircase can
be revised to the value as shown such that the pressure
With PRD of Area on the Right (To take bigger values as differential calculated can be as close to Design Pressure
Final Area of motorised PRD) Level (e.g. 50 Pa) as possible
34.77 Pascal 0.000 m2
Final Staircase Airflow
0.158 m3/s
Final Lift Lobby Airflow (cfm)

Final Pressurisation Fan Capacity required to Pressurise the Lift Lobbies
18,530 cfm
Step 1: Determine the Crack Length of Doors
Crack length is the sum of the “perimeter” around the door. It is calculated based on the types of doors
using the formulae below.
Figure 1: Crack Length is the sum of lengths of all doors’ sides with gaps
Depending on the type of door (number of panels of the lift landing door), the same method is used to
determine the crack length of a lift landing door.
Step 2: Determine the Leakage Area

By right the leakage area shall be the product of crack length and gap width of door. However, taking
into consideration that all sides of doors may have different gap width, and the fact that different
directions of swing of doors may affect leakages, the standards incorporates a factor to gauge the
leakage area.

The standards dictate as shown in the table below the leakage area for the different doors of a typical
size, taking more into consideration various factors which I believe include not only limited to crack
length and gap width but also the direction of swing of door, function or mechanism, typical opening
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The standard does not elaborate into details how we determine the leakage area of a door with crack
lengths other than those mentioned in the table above. For a safer consideration, the standards suggest
the “extrapolation” of the leakage area in the table in accordance to the crack length, as shown in the
simple formula below.
For example, if the door is a non-standard double leaf door of height 2100mm and width 1850mm,

Actual Crack Length = 2w + 3h = 2(1.85) + 3(2.10) = 10 m

Adopted Leakage Area = 10/9.2 x 0.03 = 0.0326 m2

Step 3: Calculate the Air Leakage
The next crucial step is to determine the air leakages through the leakage area calculated from Step 2.
The formula to look for is
These steps are repeated for each door and the total air leakages out of the pressurised space is the
summation of air leakages across doors leading to non-pressurised spaces. Note that the pressure level
is the difference in pressure between 2 spaces. If both lift lobby and staircase are pressurised at the same
pressure level of 50 Pascal relative to the external, it is assumed that there is no air leakage across the
door between the 2 spaces whose pressure differential equals to zero.

Step 4: Calculating the Resultant Leakage Area, Af into Lift Shaft through the Lift Landing Door
Air leakages through doors a normal staircase-external, staircase-accommodation, lobby-
accommodation door, and lift landing door can be calculated as shown in steps 1 to 3. It is assumed that
the leakage from the pressurised space to non-pressurised space is a parallel leakage path. However, the
method of calculating the resultant leakage area into the lift shaft through the lift landing door, and then
from the lift shaft to the external is resembling a combination of parallel and series leakage path.
Figure 2: Parallel leakage (Left) and series leakage path (Right)
Figure 3: Leakages into Lift Shaft. Resultant Leakages = Parallel leakages A//B in
series with another parallel leakages C//D, A//B – C//D
That is an example of lift with through-opening configuration. Because there is countless combinations of
lift configurations, it is important to understand the method to compute the resultant leakage path
correctly in order to calculate leakages into each of the lift landing door.
The method that I use to sort things out is to define one lift shaft as one leakage path to study. Note that
some lifts are not compartmented with brick walls but only by an ‘elevator divider beam’. In our study,
the lift group separated only by a divider beam will be considered as 1 lift shaft only.
Figure 4: Lift Shaft 1 and Lift Shaft 2 of different configurations
Next, we sketch on a piece of paper the elevation view of each lift shaft with all its openings.
Figure 5: Sktech of Elevation of opening for Lift Shaft 1 (Left) and Lift Shaft 2 (Right)
“x2” denotes that there are 2 numbers of lift landing doors for the 2 lifts sharing the same shaft. Note
that not all floors have the same configuration of lift landing doors. For example, for lift shaft 2, some of
the floors have both lift having through-opening (level 1 to Level 3), some of the floors have one of the 2
lifts with through-opening (Level 4 and 5), some of the floors have both lift being single opening (Level 6).
This is the reason we say that the combination of the lift opening configuration has no limitation.
After we mapped out the “opening schematic” of each of our lift shaft, we can now determine the
resultant leakage area across the lift openings.
Figure 6: Parallel leakage path 1 (Red) is in series with Parallel leakage path 2 (Blue)
The formula that defines resultant leakage area for series and parallel leakage path are similar to the
formula we use to calculate resultant Capacitance, or the opposite of what we use to calculate resultant
Resistance of an electric circuit.
Combining the above 2 equations, with Parallel Leakage Area (Path 1) in series with Parallel Leakage
Area (Path 2), the Resultant Leakage Area is combined into the equation below.
In other words, the Resultant Leakage Area can also be simply represented by
Figure 7: Parallel leakage path 1 (nAd) is in series with Parallel leakage path 2 (AF)
Referring to Figure 6, the specific Resultant Leakage Area for this example of configuration will be
Where Ad is the Leakage Area of 1 Lift Landing Door (as computed from Step 1 and 2) assuming all lift
landing doors are of the same size, and Av is the Leakage Area, or essentially the area of the lift shaft
vent.

Step 5: Calculating the Air Leakage through the Leakage Area computed from Step 4
Bear in mind that the Leakage Area of 1 Lift Landing Door, Ad is calculated using method in Step 1 and
Step 2, similar to the other types of doors. Now with Ad and the Resultant Leakage Area (of the whole
leakage path) through the lift shaft, Af, we are able to compute the Air Leakage (m3/s) across this path.
Effective Air Leakage across 1 lift landing door is represented by the equation below. It is basically the air
leakage through the resultant leakage area (of the whole leakage path) divided by the number of lift
landing doors.
Note that Ad is only the leakage area of one lift landing door to a non-pressurised space, regardless of
the actual leakage path through the lift shaft’s configuration. Taking into consideration the configuration
of the lift shaft openings, the effective leakage area into each of the identical lift landing doors shall be
taken as Af/n.
Also note that n should be the number of lift landing doors for one of the parallel leakage paths only.
This is because the same amount of airflow, Qeff passes through the entire leakage path once only, as
shown in the Figure 8 below. In this case, n is taken from the path involving the pressurised side (Leakage
path 1, into the lift shaft). Since the parallel leakage path of the pressurised space (Leakage Path 1) is of
our interest, and all the openings in this parallel leakage path is identical, the total airflow through the
whole leakage path (resultant leakage area) shall suitably be divided by number of openings in this path
only. With this, we can determine the air leakage from the pressurised space into each (1) lift landing
door, Qd.
Note that Qd is the air leakage through one of the lift landing doors only. This is clarified to avoid the
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confusion that may arise as to why the air leakage reduces when the number of lift landing doors, n
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reduces. But certainly, the overall leakage, Qeff shall increase with n. The air leakage also very much
depends on the area of the second parallel leakage path (Leakage 2, out of Lift Shaft). If any of the series
leakage path area is small, the overall effective leakage area (resultant leakage area, Af will be
suppressed by the “bottleneck”.
This is the same concept as, when two resistors are connected in parallel, the resultant resistance is very
low if any one of the resistors has very low resistance, no matter how large the other resistances are. As
mentioned, “parallel” in electrical resistance is analogous to “series” in airflow. If any of the leakage
paths in series with the other leakage paths has small leakage area, the resultant leakage area will be
small, no matter how big the other areas are.
If any of the capacitors connected in series with the other capacitors has low value of capacitance, the
resultant capacitance will be low, no matter how high the other capacitances are.
Figure 8: Parallel leakage into lift shaft is equal to leakage out of the lift shaft
It is also good that we browse through some of the important parameters stated by the standard. Factor
F is the ratio of the resultant leakage area to the leakage area of one lift landing door.
Substituting Af=FAd, Qd can also be represented by
Step 6: Calculating the Total Air Leakage from each Lift Lobby
The total Air Supply flowrate, QL required to overcome the leakages through all the openings from a lift
lobby is calculated by summing up as shown below, air leakages through all Lift Landing Doors – which
can be from different shafts – and all doors leading to a less pressurised or non-pressurised space. Also
as specified in the standard, we multiply the sum of air leakages with a safety factor of 25% to account for
all other unidentified leakages such as those from the voids of walls.
Using the same method, QS for staircase pressurisation can be computed, except that we can skip the
computation for QF through lift shafts. Also, instead of calculating for individual Lift Lobby whose
configuration may be different from one another, the leakage air calculation for staircase involves only 1
stairwell as a whole.
Case Studies

To help understand what we have been discussing so far, let’s make use of the following example to show
how QL is calculated.
Figure 9: Lift-lobby and staircase typical layout for case study
Note that this is the total air leakage for one lift lobby only. To size the overall Lift-lobby Pressurisation
Shaft and Fan, this total leakage has to be multiplied with the number of Floors or number of Lift Lobbies
intended to be pressurised. If the Lift Lobbies from each level differs in configuration from one another,
we either work out level-by-level and obtain their sum, or take the lift lobby with the highest computed
value of QL multiplying it with the number of floors.
This is the overall air flowrate required to pressurise the entire stairwell at 50 Pascal. Because both
Staircase and the Lift Lobbies are also pressurised at the same pressure level, the pressure differential
across the staircase-lobby door is equal to 0. Therefore, there is no significant leakages into all staircase-
lobby doors. However, at ground level, the staircase has an exit to the external, non-pressurised space
whose leakage must be accounted for.
The leakage airflow calculation is case-specific. In this example, the computed flowrate Qs is only able to
overcome leakages across the single door leading to the external at ground level. Please be reminded
that for other cases where there are other doors connecting to non-pressurised space such as those at
every floor’s staircase landing, this value has to be multiplied with the total number with such doors
connecting to non-pressurised spaces.


Step 7: Calculating the “Top Up” Air Required based on different scenario:
Both Staircase and Lift-Lobbies are Pressurised (Example Cont’d)
The airflow introduced to pressurise the Staircase and Lift Lobby – QS and QL, respectively – is only able
to overcome leakages across the doors in closed condition. Imagine that if you are introducing only
0.158m3/s of air to the entire stairwell, the pressure will be lost easily when the staircase-external door is
being opened for escape during a fire outbreak. Pressure takes a long time to build-up in the deep
stairwell with such a low rate of fresh air intake, hence will not be able to afford anymore intermittent
opening and closing of doors.

The same case applies to the Lift Lobby.

Things get a little more complicated when we want to determine if the calculated airflow is still able to
achieve our intended pressure level when the doors are being opened for escape purposes in the event
of fire. Fortunately, the standards have specified the minimum conditions and assumptions to make as
guidelines for our design. It is important that we understand the general concept to be able to apply it to
various cases.

To make things short, according to the standards, a “Top Up” air to the value of QS or QL calculated
from step 5 is needed to maintain the pressure level for intermittent opening of doors, if the original
computed values do not meet specified requirements. One of the main requirements is to maintain at
least 1 m/s egress velocity of air across all opened doors.

For better understanding, we will be using this example shown in Figure 10 for our detailed explanation.
This is a configuration of a 6-floor pressurised staircase and lift lobby with 1 lift shaft of 1 lift car.
Figure 10: Example of Lift Lobby and Staircase that are both pressurised, with all doors closed
Now, let us understand the different types of airflow stated by the standards when different doors are
open. We are required to fulfill the requirement of 1 m/s air velocity across those open doors for at least
2 scenarios in our design, namely
1. 2-door open (The Lobby-Accommodation Door is open & The Staircase-Lobby Door is open)
2. 1-door open (The Lobby-Accommodation Door is open & The Staircase-Lobby Door is closed)
2-door open (The Lobby-Accommodation Door Open & The Staircase-Lobby Door Open)
For buildings within 20 stories of height, take any one floor and assume that both staircase-lobby door
and lobby-accommodation door are open, then imagine the airflow that will occur as a result of that.
Remember that QL and QS are the calculated values of airflow that we need to introduce to each lift
lobby and the stairwell, respectively, to overcome leakages over closed doors to non-pressurised spaces.
Referring to Figure 11, observe that now the lobby-staircase door and lobby-accommodation door for
Level 3 are both open. With QL and QS sized just enough to overcome leakages, we can speculate that
the most of the air from QL at Level 3 as well as the stairwell, QS, have already gushed through the 2
open doors as indicated in the yellow arrows below, rendering both Lift Lobby L3 and the entire
stairwell’s pressure to drop to – most probably – a state that is equalised with the external
accommodation (differential pressure ≈ 0 Pa), depending on the duration of which the door is being held
open.
Figure 11: 2-Door open. Both Lobby-Staircase Door and Lobby-Accommodation Door are open
The space highlighted in yellow in Figure 12 (a) below is the space that encounters pressure loss due to
opening of doors. This is the space affected by the opening of doors that requires our attention.
Figure 12 (a): Highlighted space showing the space that loses pressure as a result of the 2-door
open scenario
Despite the pressure loss for the region, a few types of airflow from other lift lobbies whose doors are
closed will flow into the this “low-pressure zone” to “assist” in maintaining the air pressure level, or in
which case as specified in the standards, to “assist” in achieving the minimum 1 m/s egress velocity of air
across the opened doors.

As shown in Figure 12 (b), the pressure-gradient forces a decent amount of airflow from all other lift
lobbies whose doors are closed (except Level 3), to leak through the closed lift landing doors’ gaps, into
and along the lift shaft, and then into the lift lobby whose doors are open (Level 3). This is marked with
the blue arrows below, and we name this air flow as QA.
Figure 12 (b): QA is the leakage of air from other lift lobbies whose doors are closed to the lift
lobby that loses pressure via the lift shaft
lobby that loses pressure via the lift shaft
From Figure 13, apart from QA, another significant amount of airflow also originates from all other lift
lobbies whose doors are closed (except Level 3), leaking through the closed lobby-staircase doors’ gaps
into and along the stairwell. Eventually, this airflow travels down the pressure-gradient into the lift lobby
whose doors are open (Level 3). This is marked with the green arrows below, which we name as QT.
Figure 13: QT is the leakage of air from other lift lobbies whose doors are closed into the stairwell
and lift lobby that loses pressure
After we have understood the different types of airflows under the 2-door open scenario, the egress
velocity of the sum of airflow into the affected space can be estimated by dividing the airflow sum with
the total area of opened doors. This will be shown later in our calculation example.
We have learnt how to calculate the values of QS and QL from Step 5. From the standards, the values of
QA and QT are represented by the equations given below.
However, the above equations can sometimes be confusing, because they are being simplified to an
extent that they can only be applied if all the lift shafts have the same configurations. Often, this will not
be the case. As shown in our example from Step 4, some lifts share a common shaft separated only with
divider or separator beams. On the other hand, most of the fire lifts has its dedicated RC
compartmentation. This renders each of the lift shafts with unique configurations of openings.
In order to be able to modify the equation to suit our specific configuration, we need to first understand
how the equation came about
how the equation came about.
Let’s have a look at the equations below, which explains how the above equations from the standards are
being derived from. These less-simplified equations may look more complicated but are mostly
applicable to all combinations of configurations of lift shafts.
Determining QA
The complete equation to determine the value of QA shall be as shown below, which may be applicable
to various cases and examples. The equation looks a bit complicated but let’s explain in detail what each
of those parameters means.
Figure 14: Example showing QA, m, n, QS and QL
From previous definitions, we have understood that QA is the air that leaks from lift lobbies whose doors
are closed, through the closed lift landing doors of the respective floor, and then travel along the lift shaft
before leaking out through the closed lift .com website builder. Create your website today.
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open. QA1 as
shown in the flow in Figure 14 above, represents QA specifically for Lift Shaft 1. QA2, on the other hand,
represents QA specifically for lift shaft 2. Note that both Lift Shaft 1 and 2 have totally different
configurations.

For Lift Shaft 1, the value of m1 is equal to 1. There is only 1 lift landing door to a lift lobby for Lift Shaft 1.
For Lift Shaft 2, the value of m2 is equal to 2. There are 2 lift landing doors to a lift lobby for Lift Shaft 2.
When all doors are closed, for Lift Shaft 1, the value of n1 is equal to 6. There are 6 lift landing doors
opening into pressurized space. For Lift Shaft 2, the value of n2 is equal to 12. There are 12 lift landing
doors opening into pressurized space. However, after the doors on Level 3 is open, lift lobby 3 loses
pressure and becomes an unpressurised space. Therefore, n1 is reduced to 5 and n2 becomes 10.
Af is the resultant or effective leakage area across a specific lift shaft – Af1 for Lift Shaft 1, Af2 for Lift
Shaft 2. If you have already forgotten what they are, please refer to the previous explanation in Step 5.
You can also refer to our previous case study where we computed Af1 and Af2 case-specifically. However,
due to the changes in the m and n values, Af1 and Af2 needs to be re-calculated when considering the
doors open. This will be shown in the example after we determine how the equation is derived.
Subscripted n resembles the nth number of lift shaft – if there are more than 2 lift shafts, the count shall
4/9/24, 6:30 PM
p Lift Lobby and Staircase Pressurisation | Building Calculators
,
continue until the nth shaft with parameters
such as QAn, Afn, mn and nn.
n represents the number of lift lobbies that is pressurised. n’ is the total number of floors or lift lobbies.
AD is the leakage area of the closed lobby-staircase door for a lift lobby. Al1 is the sum of other leakage
areas of the lift lobby to non-pressurised spaces, excluding the Lift Landing door or the lobby-staircase
door that has already been accounted for.
Last but not least, n is the total number of lift lobbies. Different from n1 and n2, the value of n shall be
irrespective of any lift shafts’ number of openings. n-1 represents the number of lift lobbies that is
pressurised, deducting the 1 lift lobby that loses pressure.
Now that we know all parameters to calculate QA, it will not be hard for us to determine how the formula
is derived from.
The formula equates a ratio of airflow with the ratio of leakage area that corresponds to the airflow.
In essense, the ratio of air leakage into a lift shaft from all lift lobbies to the overall air flow in all lift
lobbies, is equal to the ratio of the area of leakage into the lift shaft from one lift lobby to the overall
parallel leakage area for one lift lobby. Note that the lobby whose doors are opened is assumed to have
lost pressured air and therefore to be deducted from the sum of pressurised air QL x n.
Figure 15: Example showing the Sum of pressurised air for all Lift Lobbies (Green), Leakage Area
into a Lift Shaft per Lift Lobby (Purple), Sum of Air Leakage into Lift Shaft for All Lift Lobbies
(Orange), & Total Leakage Area per Lift Lobby (Blue)
Before we substitute all our parameters into the equation above, there is one more thing to take note of
– there is one general assumption being made as stated by the standards in the computation of QA, that
“the Airflow out of each lift shaft past the closed lift entrance door, is taken as 1/3 of the total airflow into
the lift shaft.”
For the 2-door open scenario for 1 lift lobby, the air leakage out of a lift shaft is assumed to be 1/3 of that
flow into it. For more than 20 stories of lift lobbies, where the standard requires that we assume 2-door
open for 2 lift lobbies, this “1/3” should be replaced with “1/4”.
Figure 16: Example showing the relationship between airflow leaking into and out of a lift shaft
This means that:
QA = 1/3*Sum of all pressurised air that leaks into a lift shaft
Therefore, Sum of all pressurised air that leaks into a lift shaft = 3 QA
Substitute this into the equation,
With this, when we substitute all other parameters for Lift Shaft 1, the equation becomes
This explains the equation that we previously thought was very complicated.

If we study the example that we have here, the equation can be substituted further with:
Figure 17: Example showing QL(n-1) (Green), Af/n (Purple), 3QA (Orange), & AD + Al1 + Af1/n1 +
Af2/n2 (Blue)
Quick Recap

At this point, you may be wondering how we get leakage area into a lift shaft per lift lobby to be Af/n. For
this, you may want to recap the formula below from Step 5.
At the beginning of Step 5, it has been explained that Ad is only the leakage area of one lift landing door
to a non-pressurised space, regardless of the actual leakage path through the lift shaft’s configuration.
Taking into consideration the configuration of the lift shaft openings, the effective leakage area into each
of the identical lift landing doors shall be taken as Af/n.
For this example or for most of the cases – except those where a same lift shaft has different number of
lift landing doors opening on each lift lobby, e.g. 2 openings on Level 2, 3 openings on Level 3, no
opening on Level 4 etc. – the denominator “5” here can be replaced with n, because m/n (2/10, 3/15,
4/20) will always give a value of 1/n – where n is the number of pressurised lift lobbies.
Therefore, assuming all lift lobbies have the same lift opening configuration (which is often the case), the
following equation can be applied, where the subscripted n from Afn represents the nth number of lift
shaft opening, which may be confused with n, i.e. as aforementioned, the number of lift lobbies that is
pressurised.
In the rare occasion where each lift lobby has a unique lift landing door configuration for a specific shaft,
the value of QA can be computed for each of the lift lobbies’ “2-door” open, and the least value of QA
shall be adopted. In other words, we shall take the lift lobby with the lowest QA summed from all shafts
to be the lift lobby with the 2-door open.
Although each lift shaft tends to have the same configuration of lift landing opening for all lift lobbies, we
often come across different opening configurations among different lift shafts. Therefore, we need to also
compute airflow QA for the other lift shafts, such as Lift Shaft 2, 3 and so on, if any. The total QA should
be taken as the sum for QA for each of the lift shafts.
Figure 18: More often than not each lift shaft has the same configuration of opening for all levels of
pressurised lift lobbies, & different configurations between one and other lift shafts
As we have emphasised, this is the method we use if any of the lift shafts are of different opening
configurations from the other. If they happen to be the same, each of the equations can then be further
simplified to resemble those stated in the standards.
Back to our example, to obtain the value for QA
The leakage areas from our previous calculations Al1 and AD can be adopted from the previous
calculations. However, the value of the effective or resultant leakage area, Af for each of the lift shafts has
changed following the changes in the number of lift shaft’s openings into pressurised and non-
pressurised spaces in the event of the opening of doors causing the involved lift lobby(s) to lose pressure.
The standards set a guideline for the estimation of the value of Af, in the form of Factor F = Af/Ad, as
shown in the Table below. However, this estimation is only valid when a few assumptions are made,
shown in the Table below. However, this estimation is only valid when a few assumptions are made,
including that there
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Only when these conditions are fulfilled, when 1 floor of lift lobby’s door(s) is open (1 lift lobby loses
pressure), factor F can be referred from column 3; and when 2 floors of lift lobby’s door(s) are open, factor
F can be referred from column 4.
For all cases other than that, it will be compulsory to know how to calculate the value of Af versatilely like
we previously do. In our case, the vent is not the only opening to non-pressurised spaces because we
have through-openings for certain floors in the lift shaft.
Therefore, let’s re-determine the new value of Af1 and Af2 for our lift shafts when 1 floor of lift lobbies
losses pressure, in order for us to calculate QA and QT.
Figure 19: New Sktech of Elevation of opening for Lift Shaft 1 (Left) and Lift Shaft 2 (Right)
considering Lift Lobby 3 as a Non-pressurised space
Because of the 2-door open at lift lobby 3, lift lobby 3 now loses pressure. Meaning to say, lift landing
door opening into lift lobby 3 becomes an opening into an unpressurised space. Af shall be re-calculated
as follows.
Determining QT

To determine QT, the same concept and the same formula as QA is used.
As mentioned, this formula equates a ratio of airflow with a ratio of leakage area that corresponds to the
airflow.
In essence, the ratio of air leakage into the stairwell from all lift lobbies to the overall air flow in all lift
lobbies, is equal to the ratio of the area of leakage into the stairwell from one lift lobby to the overall
parallel leakage area for one lift lobby. Note that the lobby whose doors are opened is assumed to have
lost pressured air and therefore to be deducted from the sum of pressurised air QL x n.
In order that we can understand faster, we disclosed the formula before we try to understand how QA is
being derived from. Now, using the same concept, let’s try to derive the formula for QT.
Figure 20: Example showing QL(n’-1) (Green), AD (Purple), QT (Orange), & AD + Al1 + Af1/n1 +
Af2/n2 (Blue)
Unlike air leakage through closed lift landing door where the air leakage out of the lift shaft is assumed to
be one third of that entering the lift shaft, it is assumed that 100% of air leaking through closed staircase-
lobby doors will pass through the open door. Therefore, sum of pressurised air that leaks into the stairwell
through closed staircase-lobby doors for all lift lobbies is equal to QT. Note that the subscripted n
represents the nth number of lift shaft opening, and n’ being the total number of lift lobbies.
Again, assuming all lift lobbies have the same lift opening configuration for all levels, the following
equation can be applied, where n represents the number of pressurised lift lobbies, and n’ represents the
total number of lift lobbies (n = n’ – 1). Note that the standards are using only 1 parameter n to represent
the number of lift lobbies, because it assumes all lift lobbies are pressurised, and changes in the value of
Factor F takes into consideration the effective leakage area for lobbies that loses pressure due to
opening of doors as reflected in Table of Factor F.
As we emphasised again, this is the formula we use if any of the lift shafts are of different opening
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Back to our example, to obtain the value for QT,
With all the air flow involved, we can now calculate the egress velocity across the 2 open doors. From the
standards, the “passing score” for the egress velocity of a door is 1 m/s. This is the minimum velocity that
we expect to prevent smoke infiltration from the opposite direction of airflow. If this 1 m/s egress velocity
cannot be achieved we most probably have to “top up” our staircase/lobby pressurisation air QS and
cannot be achieved, we most probably have to top up our staircase/lobby pressurisation air, QS and
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Figure 21 (a): Airflows QS & QT into the highlighted space enclosed by, and then egress through
the staircase-lobby door

Egress velocity across the lobby-staircase door that is open – circled red in Figure 21 (a) – is determined
by taking the total airflow across the door, which is essentially the total airflow into the highlighted space
in Figure 21 (a) (the space enclosed by the lobby-staircase door) divided by area of the open door. You
can either take the area of the lobby-staircase door to be 2.1 x 0.93 = 1.953 m2, or just assume it as 1.6
m2 as specified in the standards. This value also applies to a double-leaf door, of which only one of the 2
leaves of doors is considered open.
Note that the total air flow into the space, in this case QS + QT, is multiplied with a factor of 0.6 to
account for the leakage air flow resistance. Although the egress velocity across the lobby-staircase door
is found to be less than 1 m/s, the standards allow us to “pass” provided the other door, the lobby-
accommodation door as the first cut-off from smoke/fire, manage to achieve the minimum 1 m/s egress
velocity.
Figure 21 (b): Airflows QS, QT, QL & QA into the highlighted space enclosed by, and then egress
through the lobby-accommodation door
Now the total airflow into the highlighted space enclosed by the lobby-accommodation door is the sum
Now, the total airflow into the highlighted space enclosed by the lobby accommodation door is the sum
of QT, QS, QL
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pressure-gradient across the lobby-accommodation door to the external, unpressurised space, with
velocity across the lobby-accommodation door being:
Since the egress velocity of this lobby-accommodation door exceeds 1 m/s, we do not need to top up
any air to our pressurisation air QS and QL, which on their own, is deemed able to contribute to the
egress velocity that minimises smoke entry and maintain pressure with intermitent opening and closing of
doors.
After the 2-door open scenario is studied, the pressurisation air for the staircase and lift lobby shall
remain as our previous calculation of QL = 1.458 m3/s and QS = 0.158 m3/s, without the need of adding
any “top up” air to achieve 1 m/s egress velocity.
1-door open (The Lobby-Accommodation Door is open & The Staircase-Lobby Door is closed)

In addition to the 2-door open scenario that we have studied previously, according to the standards, we
also have to calculate the egress velocity of air across the lobby-accommodation door, under the 1-door
open scenario. The concept will be the same as for 2-door open, including the requirement to assume 2
floors of the set of door(s) open when the number of floors, n exceeds 20. This will be shown in another
example later on.
Figure 22: Airflows QL, QA, and Leakage QAD into the highlighted space enclosed by, and then
egress through the lobby-accommodation door
To calculate the egress velocity across the opened lobby-accommodation door, the total airflow into the
highlighted space of interest (space that loses pressure) is determined corrected and then divided by the
highlighted space of interest (space that loses pressure) is determined, corrected and then divided by the
area of opened
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We know that the leakage area of the lobby-staircase door AD, and the leakage across it is negligible
under all-doors-closed condition, whereby both the staircase and lift lobbies are pressurised at the same
pressure level. However, when the lobby-accommodation door is open, it is assumed that the involved lift
lobby’s pressure is equalised with the accommodation, therefore the air leakage becomes through AD
becomes significant
Now the egress velocity for the lobby-accommodation door can be determined as follows. Note that QS
and QT now becomes only an air leakage QAD into the lift lobby.
After the 1-door and 2-door open scenarios have both been studied, the final pressurisation air for the
staircase and lift lobby shall remain as our previous calculation at QL = 1.458 m3/s and QS = 0.158 m3/s,
without the need of adding any “top up” air to achieve 1 m/s egress velocity across open doors, for “1-
door” and “2-door open” condition.
Note that QL is the pressurisation air for each lift lobby. If all the lift lobbies are sharing a common lift-
lobby pressurisation system, the fan and shaft shall be sized at 3100 cfm x 6 lift lobbies = 18,600 cfm.
Only Lift Lobbies are Pressurised (Staircase is Natural Ventilated)

In most of the cases, the staircase is tucked to the building parameters. If a staircase fulfills the minimum
opening area required to be deemed as natural ventilated, no pressurisation to the stairwell is required.
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The new value of lift lobby pressurisation airflow, QL, is as follows:
2-door open (Lobby-Staircase Door Open

& Lobby-Accommodation Door Open)
Figure 23: Airflows QL & QA into the highlighted space enclosed by, and then egress through both
lobby-accommodation & staircase-lobby doors
When the staircase is natural ventilated, it is assumed as being equalised with the external that all air
gashes into the stairwell are lost to the external. Not only would we not get any “assistance” from QT
through the lobby-staircase door, the opening of the lobby-staircase door introduces a new egress area
for the air inside the lift lobby. The new egress velocities for the doors now become:
For both staircase-lobby door and lobby-accommodation door, the egress velocity is obtained by
dividing area of both doors to unpressurised spaces.
1-door open (Lobby-Staircase Door Closed & Lobby-Accommodation Door Open)
Figure 24: Airflows QL & QA into the highlighted space enclosed by, and then egress through the
lobby-accommodation door
With QL = 1.538 m3/s, the egress velocity of 1 m/s can still be achieved under the 1-door open scenario,
but fails under the 2-door open scenario, when the staircase now considered an “external”,
unpressurised space. Each door is only achieving 0.598 m/s of egress velocity. In other words, a top up air
to the amount sufficient for both doors to have a minimum 1 m/s egress velocity under the 2-door open
scenario is necessary.
The total airflow required to achieve the minimum egress velocity will be as shown below, working back
the above formula by substituting 1 m/s as the egress velocity.
Now, with the addition of the top up airflow, Q Top up, the total airflow into lift lobby, i.e. the sum of QS,
QT, QL, QA, and Q Top up – in which case QS and QT does not exist – is able to achieve 1 m/s egress
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Figure 25: Airflows QL, QA & Q Top Up into the highlighted space enclosed by, and then egress
through the lobby-accommodation door
Usually, if the staircase is also pressurised, it is best that the top up air is usually added to the Staircase
airflow, QS, in order that it can assist both the staircase-lobby and lobby-accommodation doors to
achieve the 1 m/s egress velocity required.
Therefore, using the same example but only with the lift lobby being pressurised while staircase natural
ventilated, after the 1-door and 2-door open scenarios have both been studied, the final pressurisation
air for the staircase and lift lobby from our previous calculation of QL = 1.538 m3/s, requires a Top up
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airflow in order to achieve 1 m/s egress velocity during the 2-door open scenario.
Note that Q Top Up is only added once to the entire pressurisation system serving all the 6 lift lobbies, Q
LPS after it is summed up from individual pressurisation air for each lift lobby, QL. The airflow into each
lift lobby after the Top up airflow is added becomes 1.895 m3/s per lift lobby, QL’.
The original QL is the minimum airflow sufficient to overcome leakage when all doors are closed, whereas
the Top Up air is the additional airflow required for the purpose of achieving 1 m/s egress velocity during
occasions when doors are being opened.

Determining the Area of Pressure Relief Damper (PRD)

Whenever a Top Up air is introduced to a staircase or lift lobby, a pressure relief damper (PRD) is often
required to regulate pressure so that pressure will not build up too high (>60 Pascal) when doors are kept
closed for long period of time. It is recommended that the damper is motorised and be controlled by a
feedback from a pressure differential sensor within the pressurisation duct.
The size of the pressure relief damper is determined based on the amount of Top Up Air.
Since the Top Up air is added to all floors of lift lobbies, this PRD area can either be added to the main
pressurisation duct serving all 6 lift lobbies, or to individual lift lobbies with each of the area divided by 6,
i.e. 0.37/6 = 0.062 m2 per lift lobby.
This is the minimum area of PRD required based solely on the amount of top up air. This PRD area shall
be increased further if it is found that the pressure differential across the pressurised space exceeds the
60 Pascal limit even after considering the area of PRD.
For instance, the pressure differential between a pressurised lift lobby and the external can be calculated
using the fundamental formula below:
Previously, we calculated the Airflow QL based on the area of leakages and differential pressure level.
Now we are only doing the exact reverse – to get back the differential pressure across the space using
our airflow QL and Area of leakages.
Working backwards

1. exactly by assuming all doors’ closed, without the additional 25% for unidentifiable leakages, prior to
the addition of Top up air and without the PRD, we shall obtain back the value of 50 Pascal:
2. by adding to the conditions in (1), the Top Up airflow and the corresponding area of PRD that we sized
based on it, the calculated pressure differential shall still be the same:
3. (1) and (2) above are computed for our understanding purposes only. The actual calculated pressure
differential of the pressurised lift lobby to the external shall be complete with the addition of Top Up air
and the PRD sized based on it, together with the 25% addition (no longer divide 1.538 by 1.25) for
unidentifiable leakages in the original QL determination:
From (3), we know that the area of the PRD that we sized based on top up air, 0.062 m2 per lift lobby, may
not be sufficient to relieve our pressure to 50 Pascal. Therefore, we shall substitute “0.062” from the
above equation with an unknown: APRD, and P with a value of 50 Pascal, before solving for APRD.
With the initial Area of PRD revised to 0.1134 m2 per lift lobby, or 0.68 m2 in total (for 6 lift lobbies), the
pressure can be better regulated at 50 Pascal. However, as mentioned, the PRD would be able to have
better control if it is motorised thereby able to reduce in area or close up completely when the pressure
drops below tolerance levels.
Calculating the Pressure Differential across a Lobby-Accommodation Door

More often – with the exception that the staircase is not pressurised – the failure to achieve 1 m/s egress
velocity occurs during the 1-door open scenario, across the lobby-accommodation door. This is because
when the staircase-lobby door is closed, QS and QT are limited, and becomes only a leakage, QAD into
the involved lift lobby.
With the condition that the egress velocity across the lobby-accommodation door being able to achieve
1 m/s under the 2-door open scenario, even if the lobby-accommodation door could not achieve the
egress velocity under the 1-door open scenario, we do not need the Top Up air, provided the pressure
differential across the staircase-lobby door exceeds 45 Pascal.
Pressure differential across staircase-lobby door is computed using the equation that we have just used,
but with modified, case-specific parameters.
Figure 26: Pressure Differential across the Lobby-Staircase Door exceeding 45 Pa removes the
necessity of adding a Top Up air under the 1-door open scenario
From the above computation, if the lobby-accommodation door could not achieve the 1 m/s egress
velocity under the 1-door open scenario, we will need to add the top up air accordingly, because 33.5
velocity under the 1 door open scenario, we will need to add the top up air accordingly, because 33.5
Pascal is below
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On the other hand, with pressure level, P above 50 Pascal, the area of the PRD can be estimated using
the method we have used just now, by working backward the equation to get A from P and Q.

High-rise building (Assume Door Opening on 2 Floors)
2-door open for 2 floors (Lobby-Staircase Doors & Lobby-Accommodation Doors Open)

If the number of pressurised lift lobbies exceeds 20, or n>20, it is stated in the standards that we need to
assume 2 doors of 2 floors to be open, and all open doors shall still achieve the minimum 1 m/s egress
velocity.
With 2 lift lobbies’ 2 doors open, slight modification to the formulae of QA and QT should be made. As
mentioned, the “1/3” factor shall be replaced with “1/4” and “n-1” shall be replaced with “n-2”,
indicating that we deduct 2 numbers of pressurised lift lobbies. “n1” or the number of lift landing doors
into pressurised space for each lift shafts shall also be deducting the number of lift landing doors in the 2
floors of lift lobbies that loses pressure. This may sound complicated, so let’s work this out on our
example.
Figure 27: Example showing 2 floors with 2-door open scenario that applies to buildings where
total number of lift lobbies, n > 20
The formula to determine QA is as follows. Note the changes as mentioned above from the QA that we
used in our last example with 6-storey lift lobbies.
Now, we have 22 floors of lift lobbies of the same configuration. Assuming there is still only 1 staircase-
external door leading to non-pressurised space at the ground level, QS = 0.158 m3/s shall remain
unchanged. However, as the number of pressurised floors increases, the effective air leakage into each lift
shaft changes, QL = 1.458 m3/s calculated for each of the lift lobbies shall be re-calculated.
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©2019 by Engineering Calculators.
Figure 28 (a): Sketch of elevation showing the number of lift landing door openings into
pressurised space and non-pressurised space for each lift shaft when all doors are closed
As mentioned, the leakage areas from our previous calculations Al1 and AD can also be adopted from
the previous calculations. However, the value of the effective or resultant leakage area for each of the lift
shafts needs to be revised following the significant change of the number of lift lobbies, n.
Figure 28 (b): Sketch of elevation showing the number of lift landing door openings into
pressurised space and non-pressurised space for each lift shaft during 2-door open for 2 floors
From the illustration in Figure 28 above, n1 (number of lift landing door from lift shaft 1 opening into
pressurised space) is taken as 20, while n2 (from lift shaft 2) is 40, both excluded openings into lift lobbies
that have lost pressure. From Figure 28, it is shown that the total pressurised space and non pressurised
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space for lift shaft 1 is 20 and 2 respectively, whereas for lift shaft 2, 40 and 44 respectively.
Again, as mentioned, if the configuration of lift landing doors for all levels for a lift shaft is the same (i.e.
the lift shaft has the same configuration of lift landing door opening into all pressurised floors), the above
equations can be simplified to the equation below, with the only change comparing to the QA equation
for 1 floor’s 2-door open scenario being the factor, “1/3” to “1/4”.
Regardless, for our better visualisation of how the formula is being simplified or derived, we will still be
using both equations to work out this example.
Similar to QA, for QT, the total pressurised air QL reduces by one lift lobby from “QL(n-1)” to “QL(n-2)”:
Now, as shown in Figure 29, the egress velocity across the staircase-lobby door shall be the corrected
total airflow into the highlighted space, divided by area of 2 open doors from 2 different floors.

Egress velocity for the open staircase-lobby door,
Egress velocity for the open lobby-accommodation doors,
Figure 29 (Left): Example showing the egress velocities across the 2 sets of lobby-staircase doors being
the total airflows into the highlighted space, QS + QT divided by door areas
Figure 29 (Right): Example showing the egress velocities across the 2 sets of lobby-accommodation
doors being the total airflows into the highlighted space, QS + QT + 2QL + QA divided by door areas
Bear in mind that both QT and QA are not coming out of nowhere. They leak from other floors of
pressurised lift lobbies, as represented by the green and blue arrows, respectively, into the highlighted
space which loses pressure
space which loses pressure.
The pressurisation air for the staircase and lift lobby may remain as QL = 1.458 m3/s and QS = 0.158
m3/s, without the need of adding any “top up” air to achieve the minimum 1 m/s egress velocity under
this “2 floors’ 2-door open” scenario. Note that 2 lift lobbies will involve 2 QL to be considered in the
flow to the highlighted space.
Optionally, some engineers prefer their design to be safer in the sense that they can also achieve 1 m/s
egress velocity with an extra door open, i.e. the staircase-external door at the staircase’s ground level. In
that case, the egress velocity can be calculated by dividing by total area of the 3 doors, 4.8 sq meter.
Figure 30: Optional 3-door open scenario for egress velocity computation
1-door open for 2 floors (Lobby-Staircase Doors Closed & Lobby-Accommodation Doors Open)
Now, let’s calculate the egress velocity across the open lobby-accommodation doors for 2 floors of lift
l bbi d 1d
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lobbies under 1-door open scenario. As shown in Figure 31, the egress velocity across the 2 lobby-
accommodation
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across 2 staircase-lobby doors, 2 QAD. It is good to notice that the minimum egress velocity is harder to
achieve under the 1-door open scnario than the 2-door open scenario, because QT becomes only
leakages, QAD into the lift lobbies.
Figure 31: Airflows 2QL, Sum of QA, and Leakage Air 2QAD into the highlighted space enclosed by,
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and then egress through the open lobby-accommodation doorStart Now
Egress velocity for the open lobby-accommodation doors, based on illustration in Figure 32,
Figure 32: Example showing the egress velocities across the 2 sets of lobby-accommodation doors
being the total airflows into the highlighted space, 2 QAD + 2QL + QA divided by door areas
Note that QAD is the leakage across the closed staircase-lobby doors between the staircase pressurised
at 50 Pascal relative to the lift lobbies that loses pressure.
After the 1-door and 2-door open scenarios have both been studied, the final pressurisation air for the
staircase and lift lobby shall remain as per our previous calculation at QL = 1.458 m3/s and QS = 0.158
m3/s, without the need of adding any “top up” air to achieve 1 m/s egress velocity across open doors,
under 1-door and 2-door open condition.
Note that QL is the pressurisation air for each lift lobby only. If all the lift lobbies are sharing a common
lift lobby pressurisation system, the fan and shaft shall be rightfully sized at 2610 cfm x 22 lift lobbies =
57,500 cfm.
Reference
Department of Standards Malaysia. (2017). MS 1472:2017 Code of Practice for Fire Precautions in the
Design of Buildings – Smoke Control in Protected Escape Routes using Pressurization. Shah Alam.
British Standards Institution (1998) BS 5588 4:1998 Fire Precautions in the design and construction of
British Standards Institution. (1998). BS 5588-4:1998 Fire Precautions in the design and construction of
buildings –This
Part 4:was
site Code of Practice
designed with the for Smoke Control
.com website using
builder. Pressure
Create Differentials.
your website today. United Kingdom.
Start Now

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4/9/24, 6:30 PM Lift Lobby and Staircase Pressurisation | Building Calculators

Smoke Control Using Pressurisation

Please find after the calculator, the guide

text should you need to work on the

by-side. It is important to understand how

for this lift shaft

Total Effective Airdesigned

Total Airflow required to pressurise one Lift Lobby, QL (m3/s)

Total Airflow required to pressurise the Stairwell, QS (m3/s)

Staircase: 335 cfm

& for N levels of Pressurised Floors

Lift Lobby: 18,530 cfm

QS= 0.158 m3/s (Airflow supply to pressurise the Stairwell)

Egress velocity - 2 Doors Open (Staircase-Lobby & Lobby-Accommodation)

For Lobby-Accommodation Door

Initial Estimate of Area of PRD (m2)

Egress velocity - 1 Door Open (Lobby-Accommodation Door)

Pressure Differential across Staircase-Lobby

34.77 Pascal 100

34.77 Pascal 0.000 m2

Final Staircase Airflow

Final Lift Lobby Airflow (cfm)

Step 2: Determine the Leakage Area

Figure 2: Parallel leakage (Left) and series leakage path (Right)

Figure 4: Lift Shaft 1 and Lift Shaft 2 of different configurations

Substituting Af=FAd, Qd can also be represented by

Figure 9: Lift-lobby and staircase typical layout for case study

connecting to non-pressurised spaces.

Figure 14: Example showing QA, m, n, QS and QL

QA = 1/3*Sum of all pressurised air that leaks into a lift shaft

Substitute this into the equation,

Back to our example, to obtain the value for QA

Back to our example, to obtain the value for QT,

the staircase-lobby door

Only Lift Lobbies are Pressurised (Staircase is Natural Ventilated)

The new value of lift lobby pressurisation airflow, QL, is as follows:

2-door open (Lobby-Staircase Door Open

1-door open (Lobby-Staircase Door Closed & Lobby-Accommodation Door Open)

Determining the Area of Pressure Relief Damper (PRD)

Calculating the Pressure Differential across a Lobby-Accommodation Door

©2019 by Engineering Calculators.

Egress velocity for the open lobby-accommodation doors,

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