Simple Equations for Predicting Smoke Filling Time in Fire Rooms with Irregular Ceilings

Abstract

This paper proposes simple equations for predicting the smoke filling time in the room of fire origin, which may be practically used to evaluate the performance of evacuation safety design of building. The simple equations were developed for the typical types of design fires, i.e. constant, t-square and their combination. Also these equations can be used for rooms having irregular ceilings, whose horizontal section areas change with height. Their prediction capabilities were verified by comparison with the predictions by BRI2002, a two-layer zone model often used as a tool for evacuation safety design. These simple equations are found to have prediction capability almost equivalent to BRI2002 for smoke filling in the room of origin.