Smoke movement for sprinklered fires

This paper presents the initial results of a project initiated by the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and AirConditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) and the National Research Council of Canada to investigate smoke movement resulting from a sprinklered fire in a communicating space into an adjacent large open area such as an atrium or retail mall. Recent research on the interaction of sprinkler spray with a smoke layer is also reviewed. In addition, information in the literature from full-scale fire tests of mercantile and office occupancies is discussed. As part of the joint project, a large-scale test facility was established to investigate smoke flow for sprinklered fires. This facility is described in the paper. The results of steady-state fire tests using a propane burner system are discussed. These tests indicate that two smoke flow regimes can occur depending on the fire size. For fires with low heat release rates, the smoke temperature was uniform over the height of the compartment opening and was near ambient. Under this condition, the smoke was nonbuoyant and accumulated near the opening. With higher heat release rates, a two-zone air and smoke flow regime resulted. The smoke exited the compartment in the hot upper layer. The fire test results were used to determine approximate limits for the smoke flow regimes. Preliminary tests were conducted to investigate the effectiveness of opposed airflow systems in limiting smoke flow between the test compartment and the adjacent area. Initial results are also provided for this portion of the investigation.