A Comparative Study on the Influence of Ventilation on Weather- and Fire-Induced Stack Effect in the Elevator Shafts of a High-Rise Building

This work assessed the impact of ventilation on both weather- and fire-induced stack effect in an 18-story high-rise office building. Elevator shafts are considered the main route of vertical air movement. Pressure distribution induced by cold weather within the elevator shafts was calculated theoretically. Computational fluid dynamics simulations of fire in the same high-rise building under different ventilation conditions were carried out with a fire dynamics simulator. It was found that ventilation exerted a more complex impact on fire than the weather-induced stack effect. For the weather-induced stack effect, the ventilation condition of the building only affected the height of the neutral pressure plane; in fire situations, it did not only affect the height of the neutral pressure plane in a similar manner to the weather-induced stack effect, but also influenced temperature and pressure distributions in the elevator shafts. The smoke movement and the distributions of temperature and pressure in elevator shafts are also learned. The smoke movement in high rises experienced four typical stages after ignition. The ventilation condition of the fire floor influences gas flow into elevator shafts, while that of the upper floors impacts the smoke rise speed in vertical shafts. When the stack effect finally reaches steady state, the gas temperature in the shaft decreases exponentially with height. Based on this assumption, a theoretical model was presented to characterize the fire-induced stack effect in typical high rises. Results showed that the model successfully predicts the pressure distribution in high-rise buildings.     

室外风对高层建筑竖井内烟气运动影响的数值模拟

采用火灾模拟专业软件FDS对不同火源位置、不同风向条件下火灾烟气的运动进行模拟,测定典型位置处温度、速度、CO及CO2体积分数变化情况。实验结果表明:在近地风场中,风向对竖井内烟气蔓延的影响大小顺序为迎风>背风>侧风,竖井开口位于迎风面时,外界风对竖井内烟气运动影响最大:火源位于中性面以上时,烟气通过竖井与前室的开口向竖井内蔓延,并向下运动;而火源位于中性面以下时,前室内烟气向外部运动,竖井内无烟气流入。     

Stack effect of smoke for an old-style apartment in Taiwan

Many existing apartments in Taiwan allow parking of motorcycles on the 1st floor along the arcade. For the purposes of lighting and ventilation, there is an opening in upper of the gates. Taking motorcycle arson as a fire scenario, this study proved that smoke would move into the building quickly via the opening and flow upward through the staircases, posing a serious risk whenever motorcycle arson was committed. The simulation results from FDS demonstrated that the visibility decline is very fast inside staircase. When the opening was moved to the bottom of the gate, the decline became slow because the stack effect phenomenon was effectively diminished. Image-recording and laser smoke layer measurement equipment was used to measure smoke diffusion, referring to the Australian Standard, AS 4391-1999 “Smoke management systems-Hot smoke test”. The experiments were executed in a five-story building by recording visibility at a height of 1.8 m on each floor. The results indicated the same conclusions when the opening was moved to the bottom of the gate. The results also verified that the door in the attic staircase was open; the stack effect was very significant.     

采用变风量系统的消防楼梯间、前室及内走道的防排烟系统设计

防排烟规范对消防楼梯间、前室及内走道的防排烟有严格的规定。常规的正压送风系统采用电动风量调节阀或直接采用百叶送风。事实上,由于不可控的缝隙渗透和系统的变流量特性等,消防楼梯间及前室进行风量控制或正压控制是不易实现的。本文提出了采用变风量系统来实现正压送风的准确控制,该系统于1996年成功应用于新加坡的一个高层宾馆建筑并正常运作至今。面对现今规范对消防排烟系统要求的日益严格和变风量系统的普及,希望本案例能为同行提供参考。     

Doorway flow induced by a propane fire

A series of full-scale steady-state experiments was conducted to study the high temperature fire-induced flows through doorway openings connecting a burn room to a second room containing a hot gas layer. A propane diffusion burner served as the energy source. Fire strength and doorway width were varied. Measurements included two-dimensional velocity and temperature profiles within the opening and vertical gas temperature profiles within the rooms. Opening mass flows were determined from the opening data. These mass flows are explained in terms of a static pressure model based on actual gas temperature profiles in the two rooms and an orifice coefficient of 0.68. It is also shown that the simple relationship between mass flow rate through the opening, M_a, and ventilation parameter, (W, opening width; H, opening height) holds even when the opening is in the wall between two rooms. The proportionality constant for this simple relationship may depend on the configuration.     

Experimental Investigation of Effect of External Side Wind on Fire Behaviors in a Corridor Connected to a Shaft

High-rise buildings are usually in a windy environment. The motion of fire-induced smoke and fire behaviors may be strongly affected by the external wind forces except by the stack effect. It turns out that wind with different directions and velocities can cause disparity in fire dynamics. Since most previous researches only focused on the cross wind conditions, this work investigated the effect of external side wind from 0 m/s to 1.21 m/s on the air flow behaviors, combustion characteristics of methanol pools and smoke temperature in a 1/6 scaled corridor connected to a 6-floor shaft. A remarkable observation is that the external side wind (parallel to top window, shown in Fig. 1) leads to pressure attenuation inside building and induces air to flow inside through bottom door. Therefore, the smoke spreads faster under the synergic effects of side wind and stack effect. At the steady stage, the supplement air flow velocity increases with wind velocity but remains proportional to 1/3 power of HRR. An equation incorporating the wind effect is proposed to predict the air flow velocity. Results also show that compared to cross wind conditions, the mass loss rates of methanol pools increase at high wind velocities. The wind effect on smoke temperature is obvious in cases with small pools. Here, the temperature first increases to a peak value and then decreases with increased wind velocity. However, the temperature remains the same in cases with large pools within our wind velocity range. The temperature in the shaft is also correlated with mass loss rate and wind velocity. This work shows that external side wind would increase the fire hazard of buildings by contributing to the combustion and spreading of smoke. Thus engineers should consider the effect of side wind carefully when designing smoke control system.

     

Experimental Study on the Use of Positive Pressure Ventilation for Fire Service Interventions in Buildings with Staircases

During fire service interventions, positive pressure ventilation (PPV) systems with mobile fans are often used to try and make (or keep) a staircase smoke free and to remove smoke from the fire rooms. The positioning (distance from the door opening) and inclination angle of the fan determine the effect of the PPV fans in the staircase. In the present paper results are discussed of an experimental study, performed at full-scale. Based on different sets of cold experiments, the impact is quantified of: the distance between the fan and the door; the inclination angle of a single fan; and the use of multiple fans. The closer the single fan is put to the door opening, the more effective the PPV becomes. Obviously, there is a trade-off with effectiveness of the fire service intervention, since the fan must not block the door opening. With respect to inclination, it is best to apply an inclination angle of 75° (i.e., an upward tilting of the fan axis by 15°, which is the maximum value tested) for ventilation at ground level with the fan tested. This ensures safety in the case of fire at ground level due to full coverage of the entry door opening, while only a relatively limited loss in PPV effectiveness is observed compared to a horizontal fan (in some cases, the PPV effectiveness is even higher with inclined fan). When the fire room is at a higher floor, an inclination angle of 90° (i.e. horizontal fan axis) can generate a higher average flow velocity, depending on the staircase configuration inside the building. If two fans are used, V-shape positioning is shown to be more effective than a set-up in series or in parallel. A V-shape with inner angle of 60° between the fan axes is more effective than an angle of 90°. If three fans are available, still higher average flow velocities are measured. Positioning two fans outside in V-shape and one fan inside at the bottom of the staircase is more effective than putting the three fans outside, On the other hand, the latter set-up may be required for firefighting tactics.     

Numerical simulation of fire-induced flow through a stairwell

Smoke movement and ambient airflow in a stairwell under fire scenarios are studied numerically using large eddy simulation. Numerical investigation is performed on a typical two-storey confined stairwell, with an open door on the top floor and a fire source on the ground floor. Results show the existence of fairly distinct layers of hot smoke and ambient air under different fire scenarios. It is found that heat release rate has a remarkable effect on distributions of smoke temperature, velocity and oxygen concentration. This paper indicates that detailed patterns of velocity, temperature and species concentration and their evolutions can be predicted by numerical simulation of a stairwell during a fire.     

The effect of the wind speed velocity on the stack pressure in medium-rise buildings in cold region of China

This paper presents the numerical simulation results of the stack effect in medium-rise buildings in Harbin, a typical city in the severe cold region of China. The simulation was carried out using the multizone ventilation model COMIS. The effect of the wind speed velocity and the temperature of the stairwell on the pressure difference curves shape have been investigated. The pressure difference between the stairwell and the outside shows a linear variation with the height. However, the wind speed velocity may have a strong effect on the pressure difference. The results of the simulation show that at high wind speed velocity the curve of the pressure difference is not linear in shape. It has been also shown that the air total change cannot be provided by only infiltration due to leakage particularly for such air-tight residential building in windy cold climate. Therefore, mechanical ventilation is required to compensate for the lack of it. A quantitative evaluation of IAQ based on the total volatile organic compounds (TVOCs) concentration has been done. The effect of the wind speed velocity and the temperature of the stairwell on the VOTCs concentration at each floor have been also presented.     

火灾情况下侧向连续开口楼梯井中性面位置

通过1/3缩尺寸实验和模拟研究楼梯井侧向连续开口时中性面位置。研究表明,此种开口形式下,整体楼梯井不存在单一中性面,中间紊乱楼层存在各自小中性面,楼梯井与外部通过侧面开口形成若干个竖井小循环;随着火源功率的增加,紊乱楼层数增加,小循环数也增加;随着火源位置的提高,楼梯井下部空气流入的范围扩大,紊乱楼层数减小,小循环数也减小。楼梯井中部温度并不是随着高度逐步降低,在中部紊乱楼层中出现下部温度低于顶部温度的现象。     

Development of CAU_USCOP,a network-based unsteady smoke simulation program for high-rise buildings

In this study, a new network-based unsteady smoke control program, CAU_USCOP (Chung-Ang University, Unsteady Smoke Control Program), was developed for use in high-rise buildings. This program solves the unsteady conservation of mass and energy equation. Using CAU_USCOP, we then analyze the movement of smoke in a high-rise building according to the existence of a natural smoke release unit. Moreover, the strength of the stack effect is estimated using the movement of a neutral plane in a stairwell over time. The neutral plane in the case with the natural smoke release unit descends 90% less than the case without the unit, and the natural exhaust in the fire room should be helpful in reducing the risk from fire.     

A numerical study of atrium fires using deterministic models

The smoke filling process for the three types of atrium space containing a fire source are simulated using the two types of deterministic fire model; zone model and field model. The zone model used in this simulation is CFAST (Version 3.1) developed at the Building and Fire Research Laboratories, NIST in the USA. The field model is a self-developed CFD model based on full consideration of the compressibility and k–ε modeling for the turbulence. This article is focused on finding out the smoke movement and temperature distribution in atrium spaces. A computational procedure for predicting velocity and temperature distribution in fire-induced flow is based on the solution of three-dimensional Navier–Stokes conservation equations for mass, momentum, energy, species etc. using a finite volume method and non-staggered grid system. Since air is entrained from the bottom of the plume, total mass flow in the plume continuously increases. Also, the ceiling jet continuously decreases in temperature, smoke concentration and velocity; and increase in thickness with increasing radius. The fire models, i.e. zone models and field models, predicted similar results for the smoke layer temperature and the smoke layer interface heights. This is important in fire safety, and it can be considered that the required safe egress time in three types of atrium used, in this paper is about 5 min.     

The Effects of Non-uniform Temperature Distribution on Neutral Plane Level in Non-adiabatic High-Rise Shafts During Fires

The location of neutral plane level (NPL) of a high-rise shaft is an important factor for the evaluation of risks of smoke spreads in high-rise buildings, where the shaft internal pressure is equal to that of the building floor at the same height. The current method to determine the location of NPL assumes uniform temperature distribution inside a shaft, which causes concerns over accuracy of the predicted NPL for high-rise shafts with non-uniformly distributed temperatures during fires. To address the effect of temperature distribution on NPL location, this paper introduces a method to calculate temperature distribution and its associated NPL location based on a coupled model of smoke temperature profile, flow rate and pressure distribution inside a shaft. The measured data from a 1/3 scale experiment is used to validate the method and used to develop two empirical equations for NPL locations in terms of dimensionless numbers: one empirical equation based on shaft top temperature and the second based on shaft bottom temperature. A sensitivity study of the empirical equations is then conducted to evaluate the applicability of the developed equations when compared to the existing NPL method. It was found that for the existing NPL equation based on uniform temperature assumption may under-/overestimate the NPL locations, and the NRMSE would be over 50%, while the NRMSE of the empirical equation is only around 6% based on the results of coupled equations. For non-adiabatic shafts, the effects of non-uniform temperature distribution on NPL should be considered and the suggested empirical equations can predict NPL locations with a reasonable accuracy.     

排烟管道顶部接风管对带上盖车辆基地排烟效果的影响

提出了一种提高带上盖车辆基地机械排烟效果的方法,即设置顶部接风管.采用CFD流体力学数值模拟软件对顶部接风管的排烟效果进行研究.设置了4种开孔方式、3种顶部接风管开孔个数以及不同排烟量,通过测量带上盖车辆基地烟气层高度、盖板下方温度、能见度、CO浓度进行对比分析.结果表明:4种开孔方式排烟效果从好到差依次为顶部接风管四...     

热源面积对室内热压自然通风的影响

针对具有内热源的民用建筑,采用计算流体力学(CFD)方法,通过改变热源面积对热压自然通风流场进行数值模拟分析,得出了不同热源面积下的通风量、排风温度及其变化规律,分析了不同工况下的温度场和速度场,得出了中和面高度和有效热量系数随热源面积的变化规律。结果表明:热源面积的变化主要影响房间下部的温度场,对通风量和排风温度的影响不大,对中和面高度和有效热量系数均有一定的影响。该结论为民用建筑自然通风系统的设计提供了理论依据。     

Distribution of wind- and temperature-induced pressure differences across the walls of a twenty-storey compartmentalised building

An experimental investigation has been made of the distribution of pressure differences across the walls of a 20-storey student residence building at the University of Ottawa. The wind velocity at the test building as well as the temperature distributions both inside and outside the building were measured simultaneously.

While pressure differences are caused by all three of the factors investigated, namely the temperature gradient (stack effect), the wind and the mechanical ventilation system installed in the building, the first two effects are predominant for this particular building during the winter season.

The stack effect is found to be linearly proportional to the difference of the reciprocal outside and inside (absolute) temperatures, and varies almost linearly with height. The neutral pressure level occurs at a height of 40 m, or 70% of the height of the building.

The wind-induced pressure difference under relatively strong wind shows a good conformity with previous knowledge for typical bluff sections such as a rectangular prism.     

Correlations of control parameters determining pressure distributions in a vertical exhaust shaft

The pressure distribution in a vertical exhaust shaft is important in determining the ventilation performances of local exhaust hoods in high-rise buildings. Uneven pressure distribution can cause insufficient exhaust airflows from hood fans, and can cause excessive exfiltration resulting in unwanted noise through any gap openings. There are various system parameters that affect the pressure distribution in a vertical shaft, such as building height, shaft size, roof fan characteristics, concurrent hood fan usage, and outdoor temperature. The objective of this study is to quantify and investigate the effects of these parameters numerically on the overall ventilation performance of a vertical shaft. In order to achieve this goal, specialized simulation software has been developed, which implements the principles of fluid dynamics in vertical air columns with horizontal branches. Simulation results have been obtained based on a model of a 25-story apartment building, according to the experimental design method. Analysis of the variance has been conducted to investigate any correlations between the parameters. The results show that the deviation of the pressure distribution based on a slight negative value (i.e. −30 Pa or −40 Pa) has a strong correlation with the maximum pressure in the shaft. This indicates the possibility of using the pressure deviation as a single objective parameter, which represents both the insufficiency and unevenness of the pressure distribution throughout the shaft. Roof fan rpm and inlet damper opening can be used as operational parameters, and the pressure and pressure gradient at the top-most level, and outside temperature can be used as sensing parameters for pressure control in a vertical shaft.     

前室加压防烟楼梯间的高度上限

解释了加压楼梯间於冬季时其压力的变化可为负、或为正压．顶层及二层楼梯门会承受最大的压差,令楼梯间高度受较大的限制。提出了楼梯间不加压（设同风量均匀送风及均匀排风）,只设前室加压,同时楼梯间最上部及最下部设自动对外开口的方案。它能容许更大的高度及较小的负压值。     

喷淋系统对地铁火灾不同排烟方案的影响

以上海市某地下两层岛式地铁站作为研究对象,采用FDS软件对站台区域火灾进行了数值模拟.分析了站台层公共区域火灾在喷淋系统与排烟系统耦合作用下的烟气层特性.通过解析火灾区域内2.0 m高处的温度、烟气层高度、能见度以及喷淋区域内各排烟口流速等相关火灾参数的变化规律,探讨地铁站火灾时自喷系统和排烟系统的相互影响,并确认喷淋...     

Airflow and heat flux through the vertical opening of buoyancy-induced naturally ventilated enclosures

Characteristics of the mean and turbulent airflow and heat flux through the vertical opening of a buoyancy-induced naturally ventilated full-scale enclosure with upper and lower vents on one of the sidewalls were studied experimentally. The effect of the interaction between the mixing and the displacement ventilation modes on the airflow through the upper vent is explored. Measurements include vertical profiles of mean and turbulent air velocity and temperature through the upper opening using a three-dimensional sonic anemometer. The airflow appears to be inclined to the horizontal plane due to the effect of buoyancy. The level of the neutral plane at the upper vent, defined here as the plane separating between inflow and outflow, can be identified by the vertical profiles of both mean flow and turbulence intensity, with good agreement between the two approaches. The contribution of the turbulent to the total (mean and turbulent) heat flux through the vent decreases as ventilation transforms from the mixing to the displacement mode.