A CFD study of air movement in designated refuge floor

Refuge floor is used as a temporary safe space for evacuees resided in high-rise building under emergency case, e.g., fire situation. The provision of refuge floor is a prescriptive requirement in the fire code of Hong Kong. Such a provision is desirable by regulators as it relates to simple rules and has administrative convenience. However, the safety of refuge floor under fire situation may be impaired if the floor is affected by smoke from other levels. The code prescribes that cross-ventilation should be provided in refuge floor so as to prevent smoke logging. Nevertheless, the adequacy of such measure and the influence of such open floor on the rest of building have not been analytically studied. In this paper, a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) method is employed to analyze the airflow field around and inside a refuge floor. The aim of the study is to predict the airflow field inside and around a designated refuge floor, which is the first step to explore the wind effect on the safety of refuge floors. The study shows that airflow could be a factor affecting the smoke flow pattern inside refuge floor. © 2001 OPA (Overseas Publishers Association) N.V. Published by license under the Gordon and Breach Science Publishers imprint, a member of the Taylor & Francis Group.