Influence of different make-up air configurations on the fire-induced conditions in an atrium

摘要

This paper provides with a set of full-scale experimental data of atrium fires. These datacould be used as benchmarks for future numerical validation studies. In particular, the influence of the make-up air velocity as well as the position and area of the vents in an atrium is assessed both experimentally and numerically. Experimentally, the effect of different make-up air supply positions and inlet area on the fire-induced innerconditions and smoke layer descent was studied by means of three full-scale fire tests conducted in a 20 m cubic atrium. Detailed transient measurements of gas and wall temperatures, as well as pressure drop through the exhaust fans and airflow at the inlets were recorded. Later computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations of these tests were performed with the code Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS). Experimentally, the lack of symmetry in make-up air vents and the large inlet area turn the flame and plume into more sensitive to outer effects. However, no significant difference has been observed between the make-up air topologies assessed. Even make-up velocities higher than 1 m/s, with symmetric venting topology, have not induced important flame or plumeperturbations. Numerically, the simulations agree well with the experiments for thecases with make-up air velocities lower than 1 m/s. Poor agreement has been found forthe case with inlet velocities higher than 1 m/s.