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Air tightness of fire dampers for smoke exhaust systems in high-rise buildings

From National Research Council Canada

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DOIResolve DOI: https://doi.org/10.4224/40001727
AuthorSearch for: 1; Search for: 1
Affiliation
  1. National Research Council of Canada
FormatText, Article
SubjectAir and vapour barriers; smoke vents; high rise buildings; dampers; air tightness; fire venting; smoke exhaust shaft; closed dampers air leakage characteristics; pre- and post-fire testing; fire safety
Abstract
Venting the fire region of a building to the exterior significantly reduces smoke problems caused by a fire. This is often achieved by means of a smoke exhaust shaft with dampered openings on each floor. In the event of fire, the dampers at the top and on the fire floor are opened to exhaust smoke to the exterior. The performance of the smoke exhaust shaft is seriously affected by any extraneous air leakage through closed dampers located on the non-fire floors. Tests have been conducted before and after fire exposure to measure the air leakage characteristic of proprietory fire dampers currently used for smoke shaft application. The pre-fire test ratios of leakage area to damper area were generally below 2.5%. After exposure to the standard time-temperature, the ratios were generally below 4%. Restricting the maximum furnace temperature to 1000 degrees F (540 degrees C) considerably reduced the increase in leakage area ratio due to fire exposure.
Publication date
PublisherNational Research Council of Canada. Division of Building Research
Series
  • Paper (National Research Council of Canada. Division of Building Research), no. DBR-P-1254.
NoteReprinted from: ASHRAE Transactions, v. 90, 1984, Part 1B, p. 647-654. ISSN: 0001-2505
LanguageEnglish
Peer reviewedYes
NRC numberNRCC 24050
NRC-IRC-3927
NPARC number20375256
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Record identifier741dd8d6-bc4d-4269-8fbf-da9b0152c92e
Record created2012-07-23
Record modified2023-01-13
Date modified: