| dc.description.abstract | In the overall BRAVENT project, the goal is to generate answers and documentation on current issues related to ventilation and fire by examining these with experimental fire tests. The present study aimed to evaluate how different failure mechanisms identified in sub-report 1, "Fire performance for non-fire rated ventilation components" [5], affect the pressure conditions and possible smoke spread in the building. In order to investigate the ventilation system's ability to control pressure balance and smoke spread in the event of a fire, 14 large-scale fire tests with different fuel types were carried out. The tests were conducted in a test building with several rooms representing a classroom, an office and a corridor. The fire tests were designed to investigate relevant fire scenarios for school buildings, but the findings from the tests may also be relevant for other purpose-built buildings. The building was equipped with a full-fledged damper-optimized ventilation system which was sized to serve a total of 450 m2 and thus provide a realistic basis for the fire tests.
In sub-report 1, a number of component failures were uncovered when the system was exposed to hot smoke. The failure mechanisms led to the system losing its status and control over the dampers, thus also losing the overview of which air volumes passed through the dampers. The failure of the dampers then led to an imbalance in the ventilation system, also in rooms other than the fire room. In the extreme, this can lead to challenges in connection with escape by making it difficult or impossible to open doors. Smoke spread via the supply air ducts can occur due to smoke backflow if the pressure in the fire compartment exceeds the pressure in the supply air duct. In the experiments, the ventilation system increased to the maximum design airflow rate (Vmax) upon fire detection, and no smoke spread due to backflow of fire smoke in the supply air ducts was observed. It was not tested whether a backflow of smoke could have also been prevented at lower airflow rates than Vmax. Whether the ventilation system maintains sufficiently high pressure in the supply air duct to prevent backflow depends on, among other things, the capacity of the supply air fans, the density of the fire compartment and how quickly the fire develops.
The smoke from the fire caused the filter in the unit to gradually clog. In three tests, the filter was clogged so much that the air handling unit could not extract enough air, which created an imbalance in the ventilation system. The new BRAVENT tests show that the size of the fire in relation to the air handling unit's capacity plays an important role in how long the exhaust airflow can be maintained. An air handling unit serving several small fire cells with limited available fuel will be able to maintain the required exhaust air volume longer than an aggregate serving a few large fire cells as the ratio between smoke volume and total air volume changes.
Other factors that affect how long the unit can compensate for filter clogging are:
• whether the air handling unit is designed for 100% or less simultaneity, i.e. the proportion of rooms that can have the maximum amount of airflow at the same time,
• the condition of the filter at the start of the fire, completely new filters were used in each of the fire tests,
• whether the ventilation system operates with Vmax or less airflow when a fire alarm is triggered.
No smoke spread between the rooms via the exhaust duct was observed. However, since the exhaust airflow rate in one of the tests was significantly reduced to around 50% of the maximum design airflow rate, it is concluded that gradual clogging of the exhaust filter will increase the risk of smoke spreading via the exhaust duct. Clogging of the filters can be avoided by establishing a bypass. Nevertheless, it must then still be documented that all other functions of the ventilation system are safeguarded in the event of a fire.
The tests carried out showed that the failure mechanism of some components (measurement errors in dampers, short circuits and clogging of the exhaust filters) can lead to the whole system no longer being able to maintain its function. | en_US |
