Natural Smoke Filling in PolyU/USTC Atrium

Experimental studies on natural smoke filling during an atrium fire were carried out in a new full-scale burning facility: the PolyU/USTC Atrium, at Hefei, Anhui, China. The internal dimension of the atrium is 22.4 m long, 11.9 m wide, and 27 m high. A diesel pool fire of 1.2 m diameter and heat release rate up to 654 kW was located at the center of the atrium floor. All vents of the atrium were closed, leaving just a vertical gap of width 1.65 m and height 0.2 m for supplying fresh air. Five hot smoke tests were carried out. Vertical temperature distributions and descending time of the smoke layer were measured. Results on the smokefilling process compiled from the tests were compared with the USTC/PolyU model, a simple mathematical model developed from a plume equation appearing in the literature. Comparison was also made with the smoke-filling equation appearing in the literature.