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11th International Conference Interdisciplinarity in Engineering, INTER-ENG 2017, 5-6 October

2017, Tirgu-Mures, Romania

Smoke Ventilation Strategy for a Timber Structure Building

Darmon R.a*, Suciu M.b
a
Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, 25 Baritiu, Cluj-Napoca,400027, Romania
b
Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, 72-74 Observatorului, 400363, Romania

Abstract

Timber is a sustainable material and a renewable resource. In Romania, there is certain reluctance towards the use of timber for
public buildings as schools, hospitals or theatres, partly due to the wood’s poor fire behavior. Nevertheless, there are
compensatory fire safety measures which can be implemented to improve the building overall fire resistance and fire behaviour
performance, but the smoke hazard represents another concern for the safety of the occupants during egress. With a suitable fire
safety strategy in place, timber can be used for a wide range of public buildings, having great advantages as low cost and low
embedded energy, good insulation and esthetical properties, etc. The use of numerical methods to optimize the smoke ventilation
system into a building can save valuable resources and time during the design process. The article describes the numerical
simulations, carried out with Fire Dynamics Simulator 6, for validation of the mechanical smoke control system within a timber
structure building designed for education purpose.
© 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.
Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the 11th International Conference Interdisciplinarity in
Engineering.

Keywords: smoke spread, numerical simulations, natural ventilation, evacuation.

1. Introduction

CFD modelling of fires is becoming an increasingly important analytical tool for the fire engineer. As our
understanding of physical phenomena such as combustion processes, heat transfer and fluid flow increases, so does
the ability to accurately model fires using field models. This, coupled with more advanced computer algorithms,

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +0-040-264-401-549; fax:-.

E-mail address: Ruxandra.Darmon@ccm.utcluj.ro

2351-9789 © 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the 11th International Conference Interdisciplinarity in Engineering.
2 Suciu M. Darmon R./ Procedia Manufacturing 00 (2018) 000–000

processor speeds and memories has massively increased the accuracy of CFD fire modelling allowing a better
description of fires in complex geometries and the ability to incorporate and predict a wide range of physical fire
phenomena or to develop advanced visualization techniques as Immersive Virtual Reality systems [1].
Timber structures are recognized to have a low fire resistance due to the wood poor behavior over a long time of
fire exposure. Notwithstanding these drawbacks, the fire performance of timber structures can be improved by
designing supplementary protection means as noncombustible cladding [2], fireproofing treatments, gypsum-based
covering, etc. The life safety performance criteria can be fulfilled if a good fire strategy is implemented. As part of
the fire strategy, the smoke ventilation system, either it is natural or mechanical ventilation represents a key factor
for the safe evacuation of the building occupants.

Nomenclature

ASET Available Safe Egress Time

CFD Computational Fluid Dynamics
FDS Fluid Dynamic Simulator
RSET Required Safe Egress Time

1.1. Scope

The use of numerical methods to optimize the smoke ventilation system into a building can save valuable
resources and time during the design process. The purpose of undertaking a CFD analysis is to assess and to validate
the effectiveness of natural ventilation strategy within a three floors timber building.

1.2. Objectives

One of the main objectives of this paper is to analyze whether tenable conditions are maintained for a safe
evacuation of the occupants, over a sufficient period of time. Computer simulations have been used in order to
observe the smoke movement within the atrium and the smoke spread over the circulation routes along the
balconies. The aim of the CFD analysis was to determine the optimum solution for the dimensions and position of
the roof openings in order to maintain a smoke clear path along the circulation spaces of all three levels during the
entire period necessary for the building complete evacuation.

1.3. Building description

The building discussed within this paper is designed as an educational institution having a timber framed
structure, with the total height of approximate 19 m, comprising a ground floor and three storeys above. The slab
floors between the upper levels have large openings piercing the centre of the building and forming an atrium space.
The ground floor is considered a separate fire compartment and does not make the object of the CFD analysis.
The roof above the atrium space is designed to have a considerable area of glazing surface, ensuring the natural
illumination of the building central circulation core. Each of the upper floors has a large window opening on the
west façade.

2. Acceptance criteria for the smoke ventilation system

The life and safety code NFPA 101 [3] and SFPE Handbook of Fire Protection Engineering [4] contain similar
criteria to be met along the escape routes. A design solution is considered to be code compliant if the accepted
tenability limits for smoke layer height, smoke temperature and visibility throughout the smoke layer are not to be
exceeded. Further guidance is also given in the British CIBSE Guide E [5], where the same benchmarks are
specified for tenability criteria.
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2.1. Smoke layer height

The smoke layer should not descend below the people height. A smoke layer interface maintained at 2.0 – 2.5 m
above the floor is generally accepted.

2.2. Smoke temperature

Due to the maximum heat radiation level that can be perceived by a person without suffering any harmful effect,
the smoke temperature is restricted to 60ºC.

2.3. Visibility and toxicity

A person walking on the egress paths should be able to see a clear route for at least 5 m – 10 m ahead. This is
usually assessed within a CFD code by measuring the optical density over the evacuation ways.
Toxicity, measured as a CO concentration, should be less than 1400 ppm. In general, if the visibility is within the
fore mentioned range, it is considered that the toxicity is also below the limiting value.

3. CFD Analysis

3.1. Fire scenario

The building is designed to be sprinkler protected. It is assumed that the sprinklers will control a fire occurring
inside a classroom from the early stages.
The presence of the floor voids, however, will let a surface of first level, unprotected, over the central atrium
projection.

3.1.1. Fire location

The most probable fire scenario takes into account a fire occurring in the open space at the first floor, where the
sprinklers cannot reach the ignition source of the fire. Given the destination of the building, the fire load will be
restricted within the circulation spaces. At the first floor, the central zone comprises beside circulation spaces, a
large Break Out space and a Staff area.

3.1.2. Fire source

The fire has been located in the vicinity of the Art Room, assuming that some art displays could have been
accidentally ignited. This scenario is regarded as the worst case scenario for the purpose of this analysis.

3.1.3. Design fire scenario

The design fire selection has been done taking into account the several factors as the building characteristics, the
ventilation conditions and the fuel characteristics. For all numerical simulations it has been estimated a maximum
peak of 2.5 MW. Thus, to model the growth phase of the fire, it has been chosen a “medium growth-rate t-squared”
as recommended in CIBSE Guide E [5], for commercial and educational occupancies.

3.1.4. Numerical simulations scenarios

A number of numerical simulations have been carried out for the 2.5 MW design fire scenario, varying the size
and the position of the building openings, in order to estimate the optimum combination for a natural ventilation
strategy. Therefore, for each group of building openings, a summary of the numerical simulations is shown, below,
in Table 1. In the last column of the table has been calculated the total area of ventilation openings. It is assumed
that in a fire event, the windows will be automatically open after the smoke detector activation signal.
All of the scenarios have been run for 1200 seconds (20 minutes) simulation time, to ensure that steady state
conditions had been reached.
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Table 1. Summary of the FDS simulation scenarios.

FDS scenarios Openings on Windows on the Southern Openings on Total vent
the east roof slope glazing the east roof area
façade - Rw [m2] - surface slope [m2]
– Dw [m2] - – Sw [m2] - – Ew [m2] -
Scenario 1 6.75 12 - - 18.75
Scenario 2 6.75 12 47 - 65.75
Scenario 3 6.75 12 47 0.47 x 8.5 69.75
Scenario 4 1.3 x 6.75 12 47 0.47 x 8.5 71.75
Scenario 5 1.3 x 6.75 12 47 8.5 76.25
Scenario 6 1.3 x 6.75 - 47 8.5 64.27

3.2. FDS model geometry and boundary conditions

The numerical simulations have been be undertaken using the Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS6) software package
developed by NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) in collaboration with VTT – Technical
Research Centre of Finland for nuclear industry applications. The post processing visualization is done with
Smokeview, which is an FDS integrated companion program.
For this analysis grid cells measuring 0.25m x 0.25m x 0.25m were used to improve the accuracy as much as
possible. This resulted in a total of 1,862,304 grid cells for the base case. The computational domain has been
extended over the building and open to the ambient conditions.
The model geometry used for numerical simulations can be seen in Fig. 1. The position for all the window
openings is indicated on the Fig. 2.

Fig. 1. The main features of the FDS model (a) Lateral front side; (b) Lateral rear side.
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3.2.1. Data gathering – smoke layer height

During the numerical simulations it is possible to monitor the smoke layer interface and to record the position of
the smoke layer height, in time, within the atrium space, at a given point, specified in FDS as a measuring device.
For all scenarios, the smoke layer has been recorded in the same point.

3.2.2. Data gathering – Slice Files

Slice files provide an excellent visual graphic of how conditions change against time along a section of the
model. Temperatures and visibilities are represented as a rainbow colored map and it can be seen which areas will
and will not be tenable, based on the scale from the right hand side of the image. At the bottom of the frame it is
given the time scale in seconds, showing the moment of the simulation when the instant has been taken. An example
of visibility slices output from FDS, can be seen, below, in Fig. 2.

Fig. 2. Visibility slice files example (a) horizontal slices; (b) vertical slice.

3.3. General assumptions and limitations

The CFD Analysis is carried out based on the following assumptions and limitations:
 The ambient temperature in all the numerical simulations is taken as 20 °C.
 The model does not account for wind effects.
 The radiation is not explicitly modelled. The radiative fraction is constant, taken as 35%.
 The fire is prescribed and not predicted in the FDS model.
 The conductive heat transfer is simplified due to the material properties assigned as concrete lining and based on
the assumed fuel properties.
 The soot fraction is prescribed and not predicted in the model, as an input of 0.055, based on the assumed fuel
average properties.
 The visibility is in relation with the smoke which, in FDS is defined by the simple chemistry model [6] (“mixed
is burned” - one step reaction).
 The computational domain is split into rectangular, uniform cubic cells by meshes of 25 cm on all three
directions, x, y and z respectively. The mesh size determines the accuracy of the turbulence modelling.
 In order to keep the number of grid cells to a minimum and the simulation time to a reasonable duration, the
model was reduced to capture the atrium space.
 All the doors to the classrooms are assumed to be shut, therefore it has not been taken into account another source
of fresh air as an open window inside a classroom.
 The sprinklers have not been modelled.
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 For all scenarios it has been taken a delay of 30 seconds between the fire initiation and the windows automatic
opening, to account for the detection period.
 All simulations have been run for 1200 sec simulation time, assuming that 20 minutes would be a reasonable time
to reach steady state conditions.

4. Results

4.1. Smoke layer height

The smoke layer interface has been recorded in point A, located under the east side void, close to the Stair 02.
Fig. 3 represents a summary plot for all scenarios. The continuous lines represent the smoke layer interface
descending in time. On the vertical axis it is shown the total height of the atrium space.
In the FDS model, 0.0 represents the first floor slab level. The second floor slab and the third floor slab have the
height 3.5 m and 7 m, respectively. Tenable conditions are assessed 2.5 m above each floor, therefore, the smoke
layer should not drop below 9.5 m at the third floor and 6 m limit for the second floor. It can be seen from the graph
that for all scenarios, in the first 2 minutes (120 sec) the smoke does not accumulate above the point A. In Scenario
1, after 120 sec, the smoke layer starts to descend and after 300 seconds remains relatively stable at a height of
approximately 5 m above the first floor.

Fig. 3 Smoke layer height variation in time for all scenarios

The red line arrows show that for all scenarios, apart from Scenario 1, the smoke layer will not drop below the
2.5 m at the third level, in point A, for at least 4 minutes ( ̴ 250 sec).

4.2. Smoke temperature

The temperatures are higher than the tenability limits in the vicinity of the fire source, at the first level. As the
smoke plume rises, the temperature decreases. The second and third level are within the tenability limits for the
whole simulation time for all scenarios.
In Scenario 5, where there is a maximum ventilation area. The smoke plume is cooled more effectively due to the
different openings in the model and the temperature is maintained close to ambient for the whole simulation period.
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4.3. Visibility

Horizontal visibility planes have been taken at 2.5 m above each of the three levels. For the first two scenarios,
the smoke layer drops below 2.5 m at the first floor and for the third scenario, the visibility is less than 10 m at the
second floor, thus, this criterion is not fulfilled.
In Scenarios 4, 5 and 6, tenable conditions are maintained for the entire simulation time.

5. Conclusion

The CFD analysis using FDS (Fire Dynamics Simulator) software demonstrates that tenability conditions can be
maintained for the central circulation spaces at all the floor levels timber structure building, providing a sufficient
surface of openings for natural ventilation.
A number of scenarios have been considered in order to reveal the most important factors which could influence
the ventilation within the atrium. According to the CFD analysis, the following conclusions and recommendations
can be outlined:
1. The minimum total surface for the necessary openings at the roof level should be in the range of 60 m2- 65 m2.
2. Providing vents at the lateral side of the roof, at the east side, the same as the openings on the façade, seems to
have a better effect on the smoke movement, ensuring a more effective ventilation, compared with the case, when
the lateral windows at the roof are on the opposite side as the openings in the façade.
3. The 8 windows from the roof slope could be discarded if a compensative ventilation surface is provided on a
side of the roof.
4. The wind conditions on site and the local air dynamic could influence the natural ventilation within the
building.
Overall it is concluded that the natural ventilation would be suitable for timber structure building and tenable
conditions can be maintained for a sufficient period of time required for a safe evacuation of all the building
occupants.

References

[1] I. Anghel, J.D. Pesic, S. Codescu, D.Popescu, V. Panaitescu, O. Lalu, 3D Fire Dynamic Scenario for Training Systems Based on Immersive
Virtual Reality for Firefighters, Applied Mechanics and Materials, Vols. 809-810 (2015), pp. 793-798.
[2] R. Darmon, Sustainable Fire Safety Design for Building Frontages, Journal of Applied Engineering Sciences, Volume 2(15), Issue 1/2012, pp.
19-24.
[3] NFPA 101, Life Safety Code, National Fire Protection Association, 2015.
[4] SFPE Handbook of Fire Protection Engineering, 5th Edition, Springer, 2015.
[5] CIBSE Guide E – Fire Safety Engineering, third ed., The Chartered Institute of Building Services Engineers, 2010.
[6] Fire Dynamics Simulator User’s Guide, FDS Version 6.0, August 27, 2012, NIST Special Publication 1019.