Air curtain to control smoke and fire spread in a ventilated multi-floor building

Abstract

Compartment fire is a hazardous phenomenon because of the generated poisonous and high-temperature gases. Air curtain systems can be used in order to control the fire spread. This paper examines the numerical simulation method with a focus on the combustion model which can model the poisonous gases and investigates the effect of air curtain on fire. The results of the flamelet generated manifold (FGM) combustion model, which considers all of the poisonous species with detail, in compartment fire with single and multi-floor building have been verified. A three-floor compartment fire scenario with methane as a fuel of 62.9, 500, and 5000 kW heat release rate, which represents over to under-ventilation, was selected as a test case. The impact of air curtains with various supply angles, velocity, and ventilation on pollutants and temperature distribution was examined. The mass fraction of CO and CO2 species reached near zero at angles of 12 and 24, at the over-ventilated case when using air curtain. Therefore, there is no hazard for the upper floors in case of using air curtain. However, in the under-ventilated case, it is necessary to improve the efficiency of air curtain by using ventilation in the fire room and increasing the exhaust velocity of the air curtain.