Abstract:In recent years, natural ventilation technology is extensively used in order to improve indoor environment quality and reduce power consumption of air-conditioning systems in green buildings. However, the effect of natural ventilation on fires needs to be evaluated carefully, and how to make these energy-saving buildings safe is a topic worth studying. This study uses Fire Dynamics Simulator on some fire safety enhancement measures for an existing green building without installation of a smoke exhaust system. Since the building is located on a school campus, it does not require a smoke exhaust system according to Taiwan fire regulations. Referential results, obtained after a series of improvement strategies are tested, show that kiln natural ventilation can generate a comfortable air flow. Unfortunately, due to the stack effect, hot air and fatal smoke are blown into the evacuation route area behind the room when a fire occurs. The findings showed that there are two feasible improvement measures, "controlling the off state of each air inlet" and "setting up an exhaust port in the rear of room", which can effectively resolve the fire safety issues; the construction of which can be undertaken at a reasonable cost.
In this paper, the neutral plane in a compartment fire was measured by Optical Schlieren Photography. This is a highly sensitive, optical, nonintrusive and remote technique to visualize fluid flow, utilizing refraction when light passes through air of different densities. The positions and variations of hot air flowing out of an opening can be determined clearly. A 1/14 scale model room burning candles inside was used. Hot air induced by the candle flame flowing out a 15 cm opening was observed. Thermocouples were also placed at the opening to compare with the neutral plane determined by the Schlieren Photography method. Simulations with Computational Fluid Dynamics were performed to justify the observed locations of the neutral planes.
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