Fire Safety Science Digital Archive

The aim of this paper is to present a comparison of results obtained with several fire models on an application of smoke control system design for a large volume within the new French regulation framework. Three fire models are used: a simple hot layer model, a 2-zone model (FISBA) and a field model (FDS). The large volume used as a sample is 5000 m² of floor area and 19 m high. Three different exhaust configurations are studied for one single 5 MW fire scenario. Results show a good agreement between models for no or low exhaust flow rate while discrepancy increases for high exhaust flow rate. Discrepancy, which affects smoke control system design and fire safety analysis, is mainly explained by the strong fluid movements that are predicted with field modelling. Further research is need in order to determine which model is better adapted to a specific situation with regards to building volume dimensions, fire heat release rate and exhaust rate.