The General Principles of Smoke Control

Colt Technical Seminar

A brief history of Colt

 Private Company founded in 1931

 I J O’Hea OBE (1897 - 1984)
 2013 Group turnover £152 million “I J O’Hea.
Colt founder”
 Manufactures in the Brazil, China, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, the
UK and the USA
Current UK Business markets

 Smoke Control
 Solar Shading
 Natural Ventilation
 Louvre
 Environmental Comfort Control
Some Notable Recent Fires:

• King’s Cross
• B&Q - Leicester
• Dusseldorf Airport
• Heathrow Airport
• Bradford City Football stadium
• York Minster
• Sainsbury’s - Chichester
• Windsor Castle
• Warehouse, Atherstone
 Sainsbury’s
Chichester

Arsonist set fire to this unsprinklered and unvented store, shortly

before Christmas. £14.5 million worth of damage including loss
of building, loss of all stock and loss of business for many
months to follow
 Dusseldorf
Airport
Germany

17 people killed including a child, several women and a

police officer. Over 60 injured due to smoke logging from a
relatively small fire spreading throughout the Terminal.
 Source: Fire
Statistics, United
Kingdom, 2011 -
DCLG

Smoke is by far the biggest killer

Why Provide Smoke Control?

• Protect escape routes

• Assist fire fighting

• Protect valuable stock or machinery

• Reduce the risk of explosion and/or roof collapse

Smoke Clearance v. Smoke Control

Smoke Clearance Ventilation

Uses a notional amount of ventilation to assist fire fighting operations, allowing
fire fighters to clear smoke from the relevant building or part of building often
after the fire has been extinguished.

Natural: Natural openings providing a percentage of the plan

area of the space
Mechanical: Extract fans providing a number of air
changes of the volume of the space per hour

By definition, smoke clearance offers limited benefit during evacuation and has a
much simplified design basis.
Smoke Clearance v. Smoke Control

Smoke Control Ventilation

Smoke Control Systems are designed to control or restrict the movement of

smoke within the building.

In order to do this it is usually necessary to estimate the amount of smoke

produced by a fire and the heat energy present. Then measures such as
ventilation can be used to remove smoke to provide vertical control and barriers
can be used to control horizontal smoke movement.

Again, these can be natural or mechanical systems, but the design is much more
complex and requires an estimate of the fire size.
Sprinklers
Interaction Between Sprinklers and Vents

SPRINKLERS VENTILATION
• Will limit fire spread and • Will prevent smoke logging
control growth • Assist escape
• Will not reduce smoke • Aid fire fighting
damage

Sprinklers are designed to reduce damage, but offer limited benefit to

occupants. Smoke ventilation alone will not save the building but is
primarily designed to assist escape.
History and Development

1881 – Ring Theatre, Vienna – 800

dead
1887 – Theatre Royal, Exeter – 187
dead
1887 – Paris Opera – 200 dead
1903 – Iroquois Theatre, Chicago – 602
dead
 General Motors Factory,
Michigan 1953

6 dead

140,000 m2 plant destroyed

Loss of production of
automatic gearboxes for 5
major car manufacturers
History and Development

Portsmouth Fire Test

History and Development

Temperature recorded on North column thermocouple

Red – Unvented

Green - Vented 600 oC

200 oC

37 oC
History and Development

Current Documents:

The Building Regulations 2000: Approved Document B (2006)

Codes of Practice: BS 5588-1 to 12, BS 9999, BS 9991

Specifications: EN 12101-1, 2, 3, 7, 8 & 10

Design Guidance: BR 368 – Design Methodologies for Smoke and Heat

Exhaust Ventilation
BS 7346-4, 5 & 7, CEN TR 12101-5
BS 7974
Breakdown of Smoke Control Applications

• Factories/Warehouses/Retail Sheds
• Shopping Centres
• Atria
• Apartment blocks
• Fire Fighting Shafts
• Car Parks
Factories/Warehouses/Retail Sheds - Large Single Storey
Buildings
Applications
Approved Document B only limits travel distances for means of escape.

Escape distances may be extended, usually with a trade-off for

compensatory features, e.g. a ‘fire-engineered’ collection of measures,
which may or may not included smoke control.

Design Guidance: BS 7346-4 & 5

SVA Guide Issue 3
Applications: Large Single Storey Buildings

In the early stages of fire, smoke quickly rises

into roof space
Applications: Large Single Storey Buildings

Smoke travels laterally beneath the roof and spreads throughout

the building
Applications: Large Single Storey Buildings

Even large buildings can become totally smoke logged in minutes

Applications: Large Single Storey Buildings

In a smoke logged building, way finding can be very difficult and

temperatures will rise rapidly – leading to loss of structural stability
and building collapse
Applications: Large Single Storey Buildings

Evacuation is safer and fire fighting more effective when the routes are
clear
Applications: Large Single Storey Buildings

Objectives of Smoke Control:

• Assist escape by extending available safe evacuation time

• Assist fire fighting by improving conditions in the building during the fire
and clearing smoke from the building after.

• Protect valuable stock or machinery

• Reduce the risk of explosion and/or roof collapse

 Applications: Fire and smoke
Applications: Large Single Storey Buildings

Time taken for smoke to affect escape routes Available Safe

Escape Time
Detection
Time
C lear layer heigh t (m )

Pre-movement
time

Evacuation Time

Required Safe
Escape Time

Fire
Starts
 Applications: Fire and smoke

Time taken for smoke to affect escape routes Available Safe

Escape Time
Detection
Time
C lear layer height (m )

Pre-movement
time

Evacuation Time

Required Safe
Escape Time

Fire
Starts
Applications: Fire and smoke

Time dependent Fires Steady State Fires

Steady state
Peak fire size

Ultrafast

Fire Size
Heat output

fast
medium
slow
Growth Decay

Time Time

Steady State design ignores growth and decay of fire and takes into account the
largest probable fire for a given risk
Applications: Large Single Storey Buildings

Steady State Fires

• 3 m x 3 m (minimum)
• 9 m x 9 m (maximum)

Double area for design

purposes if not sprinkler
controlled

3m 3m
 Applications: Large Single Storey Buildings

• Internal view of a 1MW fire.

Applications: Large Single Storey Buildings

Even small fires can produce

large quantities of toxic smoke
Applications: Smoke control

Components of a Smoke Control System

Applications: Large Single Storey Buildings
Applications: Large Single Storey Buildings

Mezzanine
Floors
Applications: Shopping Centres

• Large uncompartmented buildings

• Full of people who are unfamiliar with the building layout.
• Varied cross-section community, e.g. elderly and disabled.
• Evacuation time can be considerable.

Smoke Control is therefore a requirement to assist in keeping

escape routes safe for an extended time period.

Design guidance is given in BS 5588 Part 10: 1991, BS 9999,

BS 7346-4 and BR 368.
Applications: Shopping Centres

Extract direct from

shop
-Extract from under
balcony
-Extract from mall
roof space

Multiple levels further complicate the situation

Applications: Shopping Centres

-Smoke flow only

through one void
-Limit perimeter of spill
edge
-Limit smoke reservoir
length in mall
-Limit plume height for
practicality / cost
effectiveness
-Natural ventilators to
be as high as possible
-Inlet availability
Applications: Atria Buildings

Atria

If the vertical compartmentation specified in ADB cannot be met, i.e.

the building has an Atrium, then it should be designed in accordance
with BS5588 Part 7:1997 or BS 9999, which, depending on the
application, may require smoke clearance or smoke control.

Important factors are whether people are unfamiliar with the building
(e.g. public buildings) and possibly asleep (e.g. hospitals or hotels).
Applications: Atria Buildings

Sterile Tube Closed Atrium

Open Atrium
Applications: Atria Buildings

Possible Solutions
Depends on use of building, fire risk, occupancy type, type of atria, etc….
But usually one of the following:
• Smoke clearance
• Extract from room of origin
• Extract from floor of origin
• Through flow
• Depressurisation
Applications: Atria Buildings

As natural ventilation are buoyancy driven, exhaust ventilators should

be located at the highest point possible.
Natural or Mechanical Extraction

• Natural • Mechanical

• Fail safe operation • Not wind pressure sensitive

• Self compensating • Suitable for ducting
• Silent operation • Fixed extract volume
• No time or temperature • Noise and Weight
limits • Maintained electrical supply
• Lightweight • Dedicated air inlet
• Sensitive to wind effects • Standby unit in case of fan
failure
Wind effects

Positive wind pressures

may be experienced on
roof pitches steeper than
30 degrees….
Wind effects

… And from higher

adjacent structures
Wind effects

Mechanical Ventilation may

be the only alternative
Ventilator Types

Louvred
Roof Vents

Glazed
Wall Louvres
Ventilator Types

Casement
Roof Vents

Double Flap
Roof Vents
Ventilator types

Mechanical (powered) vent

Inlet or “Replacement” Air
Smoke Reservoirs

• Required to limit the spread of smoke

• Formed using fixed or automatic drop smoke barriers

• Arranged to limit the size of the smoke reservoir at high level to a

maximum of :

- 2000/2600 m2 plan area, and

- 60 m long in any direction

Note: In shopping centres the reservoir is assumed to be 50% in the shop

and 50% in the mall
Smoke Reservoirs
Applications: Fire Fighting Shafts

Approved Document B requires fire fighting access in all

buildings. If there is a floor level 18 m or more above fire service
access level or a basement more than 10 m below, then a fire
fighting shaft is required.

A fire fighting shaft contains a protected stair, lobby and usually

a lift. The stair and lobby require smoke ventilation to allow fire
fighters safe access to every level. This is defined in BS 5588
Part 5: 2004 and BS 9999.

The ventilation system is intended to keep the stair free of

smoke and improve conditions in the lobby.
Applications: Fire Fighting Shafts

Stairwell ventilation Lobby ventilation

• A 1.5 m2 openable vent • A 1 m2 vent (OV) in the fire fighting

at the head of the stairwell; lobby; or
or
• A 3 m2 BRE shaft with 1.5 m2
• A 1 m2 openable window at dampers on each level; or
each storey (OV)
• A mechanical shaft; or

• A pressurisation system.
Applications: Ventilation of Common Corridors

ADB requires the common corridors of apartment buildings to be ventilated to

protect common escape staircases from smoke ingress and to allow smoke
to be cleared from corridors.

The basic requirement in England and Wales is that each escape stair and
every adjacent corridor or lobby should be ventilated.

The requirements are given in ADB, BS 5588-1 and BS 9991.

Applications: Ventilation of Common Corridors

Common Corridors/lobbies can be ventilated by:

• A vent with a minimum free area of 1.5 m2; or

• A 1.5 m2 smoke shaft, with 1m2 dampers at each level; or

• A mechanical smoke shaft; or

• A pressurisation system.

The stairs require a 1 m2 vent at the top floor.

Applications: Extended Travel Distances

Extended Travel Distances in Residential Common Corridors

7.5m
ADB 2006 states: “There may be some instances where some
increase on these maximum figures [travel distances] will be
reasonable.”

In these cases mechanical systems can be designed to enhance

7.5m+
safety, allowing travel distances to be extended from 7.5 m to in
excess of 20 m in one direction.

These are fire engineered systems, usually designed to achieve

specified conditions.
Applications: Car Park Ventilation

Ventilation in car parks is provided for two purposes

– To prevent the build up of fume during the daily

use of the car park in accordance with Approved
Document F

– To provide smoke clearance ventilation in the

event of a fire to assist the Fire Service in
accordance with Approved Document B.

A single dual purpose system is normally provided

to meet both requirements.
Applications: Car Park Ventilation

Ventilation systems may be:

– Natural with openings equal to a % of the floor area

– Ducted mechanical with air flow based on an air change rate

– Impulse ventilation with air flow based on an air change rate

Systems are not expected to maintain a smoke layer at high level.

CO control is often used in fume control mode for energy efficiency.

Applications: Car Park Ventilation

Smoke Control Systems

Specifically designed to achieve the CONTROL of smoke
movement. Usually requires additional extract over and above
the basic clearance requirement.
Can be designed to:
• Aid escape and therefore extend safe escape distances
• Assist fire fighting as an alternative to sprinklers
• Control smoke as a alternative to compartmentation
In the UK, sprinklers are generally not required in car parks,
except in certain applications, such as shopping centres or
larger projects in London and Scotland.
Conclusions

The application of smoke clearance and smoke control are varied and with
specialist knowledge can be used to compensate for other standard features in
many ways.

As with many fire safety systems, the concept is usually quite straightforward
but life safety systems must be robust and comprehensive, not only in their
design, but also in the application and maintenance of the equipment that
makes up the system.
The end
THE END
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QUESTIONS?