Engineered smoke control systems to reduce impacts of fire in built environment Gabhane Lalit* *lalitgabhane@yahoo.co.in
Online published on 24 September, 2018. Abstract Changing business scenario, improving economic growth, and changing life styles of people, necessitate construction of modern large commercial complexes, high rise office building, shopping malls, convention centres, multiplexes, call centres and luxury hotels etc, in India. These modern buildings are built to cater to the needs of the current business scenario, accommodate several hundreds and thousands of people. Learnings from past fire incidents in such buildings, showed that most fire deaths are due to inhalation of smoke and that, buildings must have proper arrangements to control and manage smoke in the event of fire, to reduce the impact of fire. Smoke often migrates to building locations remote from fire space, threatening life and damaging property. Excessive smoke makes fire fighting also difficult. Atrium spaces and large roofs often act as smoke reservoirs. Stairwells, lift shafts and service shafts act as chimneys and assist the spread of smoke and hot gases emanating from fire. HVAC Engineering consultants & contractors in India are often faced with the challenges of providing solutions for effective smoke management in the event of fire, in buildings. Modern building codes such as NBC, NBCC, NFPA, IBC etc. require the building owners to provide smoke management systems in buildings. Current international trend of performance based fire safety designs also gives significant emphasis on smoke control systems, to achieve the desired fire safety objectives of the building project. It is therefore necessary to integrate appropriate measures in the designs of building systems, to reduce the adverse impacts of smoke on life & property. This paper aims to provide guidance on principles of smoke management, role of Engineered Smoke Management systems in achieving fire safety objectives in modern built environments, code requirements, and difficulties faced in installation, operation and maintenance of smoke management systems. Top Keywords Smoke control, Smoke management. Top |