37º IAHS World Congress on Housing: - Universidad de Cantabria

XXXVII <strong>IAHS</strong><strong>World</strong> <strong>Congress</strong> on HousingOctober 26 – 29, 2010, Santander, SpainCODE: 417SMOKE MOVEMENT AND CONTROL FOR FIRES INATRIA: SCALE TESTS AND FIRE COMPUTER MODELING1Jorge A. Capote, 1 Daniel Alvear, 1 Haydee Blanco, 2 Pablo Espina1GIDAI Group, University of Cantabria, Spaincapotej@unican.es; alveard@unican.es; haydee.blanco@unican.es2MSC - Modelado y Simulación Computacional - MSC, S.L., Spainespinap@msc-sl.esKey words: smoke control, atrium, scale tests, fire computer modeling.AbstractFunded by the Spanish Housing Ministry, GIDAI Group (University of Cantabria, Spain) hasdeveloped a Research Project regarding “Scale Tests of Smoke Control for Fires in Atria”, trying tounderstand the involved parameters on Smoke Movement, and for evaluating the efficacy of differentsmoke control approaches - smoke filling, natural venting and mechanical exhaust -. The influence ofthe exterior temperature on natural venting systems has also been studied. Different tools have beenused for every smoke control system and atrium and fire sizes: scale tests - based on the Froude Model-, zone and field fire computer simulations (CFAST and FDS) and analytical methods -. The scale forthe Models was 1/9. Scale atria sizes were 3 m length, 3 m width and of different heights (1.8 m, 2.2 mand 2.7 m), in order to analyze the influence of the atrium height on Smoke Movement. Fire sizeswere 9 kW, 20 kW and 40 kW, corresponding to 2200 kW, 5000 kW and 10000 kW on real scale.Previous tests were developed to select the most adequate fuel (kerosene). To obtain the mass loss rateof fuel and to calculate the heat release rate of fires, load cells were used. To register the temperatures,and to define the smoke layer interface position during the experiments - based on the Emmonsmethod -, different thermocouples trees were installed in atria. This paper presents the obtainedresults. The results of the experimental data, fire computer simulations and analytical calculations arecompared, with the objective of establishing the predictive capacity of these different methods, as wellas establishing the most adequate smoke control approach for every atria size.37º <strong>IAHS</strong> <strong>World</strong> <strong>Congress</strong> On Housing Science 207