Smoothed particle hydrodynamics modeling of the thermal behavior of double skin facades in fires considering the effects of venetian blinds

Abstract

At present, the fire safety of double skin facades (DSFs) is an important research area due to recent spikes in fires in high rise buildings involving glass DSF systems, and also due to our limited understanding of the thermal behavior of these systems. To overcome this lack of knowledge, a numerical framework is proposed for simulating the thermal performance of DSFs under fire conditions. The framework is based on the smoothed particle hydrodynamics technique and it can be used to compute numerical solutions and simulate the thermal degradation of DSFs under fire conditions. The numerical model was validated by comparing the predicted response parameters in a fire exposed DSF system with those measured in fire experiments. The validated numerical model was then employed to derive empirical equations linking temperature with both the time and location along the interior and exterior glass panes of DSFs. Finally, numerical simulations were conducted for the same DSF configuration but equipped with venetian blinds in order to examine the influence of the blinds on the fire performance of glass DSFs. An in-house MATLAB code was developed and implemented to conduct these numerical simulations. The results obtained from these numerical simulations clearly indicated that the “blind tilt angle” can significantly affect the fire spread characteristics and temperature distribution in DSFs, and thus it should be considered in the design of DSF systems for high rise buildings.