Open AccessNumerical Study on Vertically Rising Time of Plumes in Stairwells of High-rise Buildings
Author(s) -
Doo-Young Kim,
Chang-Soo Ahn
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
journal of the korean society of hazard mitigation/han'gug bangjae haghoe nonmunjib
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2287-6723
pISSN - 1738-2424
DOI - 10.9798/kosham.2020.20.2.153
Subject(s) - plume , stairs , environmental science , high rise , meteorology , tornado , marine engineering , geology , engineering , structural engineering , geography
The vulnerabilities of high-rise buildings to fires and the safe evacuation of the occupants therein have been consistently highlighted in the media. Unexpected natural disasters that occur frequently such as earthquakes increase the potential risk in large cities. If an earthquake with a magnitude that exceeds the load for safety design occurs and causes a fire in a high-rise building, it would lead to serious casualties among the occupants evacuating the building. This study represented the stairs in high-rise buildings using several full-scale models and examined the characteristics of a high temperature plume rising vertically from the ignition source using numerical analysis with Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS). We analyzed the effects of calorific value and ventilation in the middle floors and examined the time taken by a plume rising vertically from the stairs to reach each floor. Furthermore, the empirical line suggested by McCaffrey (1979) was used to compare the characteristics of a plume rising vertically inside stairs and in a limited space with those of a plume rising vertically in an open space. Based on the time taken by a plume front to rise, which is calculated based on numerical analyses, this study identified and suggested an experiment equation to make it possible to predict the time taken by a plume to rise from the stairs in a typical high-rise building.