2019/12/16 by Tamura, G. T., McGuire, J. H.
#Air and vapour barriers #Pare-vapeur et pare-air #air tightness #bouche de fumée #clapet de ventilation #closed dampers air leakage characteristics #construction élevée #dampers #fire safety #fire venting #high rise buildings #pre- and post-fire testing #smoke exhaust shaft #smoke vents #étanchéité à l'air
paper · doi:10.4224/40001727
Venting the fire region of a building to the exterior significantly reduces smoke problems caused by a fire. This is often achieved by means of a smoke exhaust shaft with dampered openings on each floor. In the event of fire, the dampers at the top and on the fire floor are opened to exhaust smoke to the exterior. The performance of the smoke exhaust shaft is seriously affected by any extraneous air leakage through closed dampers located on the non-fire floors. Tests have been conducted before and after fire exposure to measure the air leakage characteristic of proprietory fire dampers currently used for smoke shaft application. The pre-fire test ratios of leakage area to damper area were generally below 2.5%. After exposure to the standard time-temperature, the ratios were generally below 4%. Restricting the maximum furnace temperature to 1000 degrees F (540 degrees C) considerably reduced the increase in leakage area ratio due to fire exposure.