Influence of air flow patterns on smoke dispersion in multi-functional gymnasia

When a fire occurs in an indoor space, the design of the airflow pattern of the HVAC system greatly affects smoke movement. The interactions between smoke and the HVAC system can have an adverse effect of delaying the activation of the smoke detection system and hence increasing the risk from fire. In this paper, smoke movements in several types of indoor gymnasia were studied making use of the Fire Dynamics Simulator 3.1 (FDS) software. The simulation results of the smoke dispersion patterns under a number of HVAC design schemes and fire ignition positions suggest the appropriate locations of fire detectors. This research suggests that fire detectors should be strategically located through systematic simulation investigation of smoke dispersion for the most likely cases and locations of fire. © 2006 University of Sydney. All rights reserved.