Impact of Floor Planning on Airflow Patterns in Designated Refuge Floor in High-Rise Building
Publication: Journal of Architectural Engineering
Volume 8, Issue 4
Abstract
Refuge floorspace is implemented as a temporary place for high-rise-building evacuees to take a short rest before further evacuating in the case of a fire. It is specified as a requirement in the Fire Code of Hong Kong to provide designated refuge floors for high-rise buildings. To meet its desired function, a refuge floor must be a safe place for evacuees. However, the safety of refuge floors under fire situations may be impaired if the floor is affected by smoke ingress from other levels. The code prescribes that cross-ventilation should be provided in refuge floors so as to prevent smoke accumulation. Even with sufficient cross-ventilation, the prevention and/or extraction of smoke in the refuge floor cannot be guaranteed. In fact, the airflow pattern and smoke extraction/dilution largely depend on the floor planning in designated refuge floorspace. A study of the impact of refuge floor settings on the airflow around and inside the refuge floor is required and expected to provide some insight on the smoke movement pattern. In this paper, the computational fluid dynamics method is employed to predict and analyze the air movement around and inside a designated refuge floor within a high-rise building under different floor-plans. The study shows that the floor-plan does affect airflow patterns and further the potential smoke dispersion in the refuge floor.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Architectural Engineering
Volume 8 • Issue 4 • December 2002
Pages: 108 - 115
Copyright
Copyright © 2002 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Apr 4, 2001
Accepted: Aug 20, 2002
Published online: Nov 15, 2002
Published in print: Dec 2002
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