Numerical Simulation: Smoke Movement at Stairwell of High-rise Buildings

Abstract

The number of high-rise buildings in Kuala Lumpur is increasing at an alarming rate. For every high-rise building, the safe evacuation route, the stairwell, plays a crucial role. This aim of this paper is to investigate the smoke movement in stairwells as the safe evacuation route used in high-rise buildings for smoke safety management. The method used in this research paper is an experimental study using simulation. The simulation program used in this research is PyroSim, a software originally derived from another software, Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS), which uses large-eddy simulation (LES) method. It is then tested on a 17-floor stairwell model with 12 different variants. The results from the simulation experiments show that the location of the fire source (fire floor) does influence smoke movement. It is observed that the smoke movement typically moves upwards during a fire event, but if the above floor or ceiling is already filled enough with smoke, due to the turbulent mixing happening, the smoke would also move downwards towards the lower floor. Furthermore, the opening affects/influences the strength of the stack effect in the smoke diffusion. The higher the opening height, the stronger the strength of the stack effect would be. In addition, the existence of an opening on the same level as the fire floor would create a path for the smoke to exit through. This has created an insight and overview on what to consider during a fire evacuation process to maintain visibility for the evacuees.