Performance-Based Solutions of Thermal and Smoke Control Ventilation in Industrial Power Plant Buildings

Abstract

Industrial power plant buildings differ from all other types of buildings, mainly due to their significant heights and volumes without internal floor sections, exceptionally heat gains during daily work, and potentially high fire risk. Those buildings consist of boiler and turbine houses with multilevel stairways. This complicated architecture creates an extraordinary natural thermal stack effect, causing special ventilation and smoke control systems requirements, adapted to their specific structures and internal conditions. The paper demonstrates a proposal for optimal thermal smoke control ventilation solutions in industrial power plant buildings designated on the basis of performance-based calculations and confirmed by CFD simulations. It demonstrates the possibilities of using daily ventilation in the boiler houses in a function of smoke control systems in the event of a fire and defines fundamental rules for designing the system. Additionally, a new method of sufficient staircase (pylons) protection with a modified pressurization system is proposed.