Smoke venting and fire safety in an industrial warehouse

Abstract

The intention of this paper is to demonstrate the feasibility of a performance-based solution for providing adequate life safety levels for the occupants of an industrial warehouse. Focus was given to the evaluation of the performance of a smoke venting system and the exit distribution in an industrial warehouse. Quantitative analyses of the available safe egress time and the required safe egress time were carried out using both a simple calculation and a computer modelling technique. The study included a sensitivity analysis to investigate multiple fire scenarios involving variations in design fires, ventilation conditions and number of exits. Computer simulations of fire growth and smoke spread in a large warehouse with a proportionally large ridge vent revealed somewhat interesting smoke movement patterns. The procedure for determining tenability in a well-ventilated high ceiling space is discussed. The result of the study demonstrated the acceptability of the alternative design solution against the established criterion. The limitations of the modelling technique and future research topics are also discussed.