Feasibility study of using air-conditioning ducting for smoke exhaust

Sen Chou Yang*, Yew Khoy Chuah, Ming Yuan Lei

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to conferenceConference Paperpeer-review

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

Air-conditioning ducting has been found to be paths of smoke spread in case of fire. The interaction of air-conditioning operation and smoke exhaust has been found to be a risk factor for safe egress from a fire site. Computer simulation and field tests were carried out in this study to understand the mechanisms of smoke spread through air-conditioning ducting and ceiling plenum. Five fire scenarios were tested in numerical simulation. It was found that smoke would spread quickly to the adjacent spaces when air-conditioning was in operation. Smoke spread would occur even when air-conditioning cease to operate. This finding was verified in a field test. Integration of smoke exhaust with air-conditioning ducting was constructed in the field case. Dampers control for different modes of operation was built into the system. It was found in field tests that by proper damper control smoke spread would be prevented. The numerical modelling results agreed well with the field test results. In this study tenable conditions for safe evacuation were evaluated with temperature and visibility at 2 m height. The feasibility of using air-conditioning ducting for smoke exhaust was verified for a building case studied.

Original languageEnglish
StatePublished - 2016
Externally publishedYes
Event8th Asian Conference on Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning, ACRA 2016 - Taipei, Taiwan
Duration: 15 05 201617 05 2016

Conference

Conference8th Asian Conference on Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning, ACRA 2016
Country/TerritoryTaiwan
CityTaipei
Period15/05/1617/05/16

Keywords

  • Air-conditioning
  • Safe egress
  • Smoke control
  • Smoke exhaust

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