Natural smoke filling in atrium with liquid pool fires up to 1.6 MW

Experimental studies on natural smoke filling in an atrium induced by a liquid pool fire up to 1.6 MW were carried out. The new full-scale burning facility, the PolyU/USTC Atrium constructed at Hefei in China, was used. Five sets of hot smoke tests with diesel pool fires of 2×2 m placed on the floor were carried out. All openings were closed, except leaving a small vertical vent of 0.2 m high for supplying fresh air. Transient variations on the mass of the burning fuel, the vertical temperature distributions and the smoke layer interface heights were measured. Results compiled from the tests were compared with those predicted by a smoke filling model developed from plume equations; the NFPA smoke filling equation; and a model developed by Tanaka and co-workers.