NRC Publications Archive Archives des publications du CNRC The performance of a vestibule pressurization system for the protection of escape routes of a 17-story hotel Tamura, G. T. This publication could be one of several versions: author’s original, accepted manuscript or the publisher’s version. / La version de cette publication peut être l’une des suivantes : la version prépublication de l’auteur, la version acceptée du manuscrit ou la version de l’éditeur. For the publisher’s version, please access the DOI link below./ Pour consulter la version de l’éditeur, utilisez le lien DOI ci-dessous. Publisher’s version / Version de l'éditeur: https://doi.org/10.4224/40000450 Paper (National Research Council of Canada. Division of Building Research), 1980 NRC Publications Archive Record / Notice des Archives des publications du CNRC : https://nrc-publications.canada.ca/eng/view/object/?id=fbb74713-12fb-457f-a764-3a1de22fd2ba https://publications-cnrc.canada.ca/fra/voir/objet/?id=fbb74713-12fb-457f-a764-3a1de22fd2ba Access and use of this website and the material on it are subject to the Terms and Conditions set forth at https://nrc-publications.canada.ca/eng/copyright READ THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS CAREFULLY BEFORE USING THIS WEBSITE. L’accès à ce site Web et l’utilisation de son contenu sont assujettis aux conditions présentées dans le site https://publications-cnrc.canada.ca/fra/droits LISEZ CES CONDITIONS ATTENTIVEMENT AVANT D’UTILISER CE SITE WEB. Questions? Contact the NRC Publications Archive team at [email protected]. If you wish to email the authors directly, please see the first page of the publication for their contact information. Vous avez des questions? Nous pouvons vous aider. Pour communiquer directement avec un auteur, consultez la première page de la revue dans laquelle son article a été publié afin de trouver ses coordonnées. Si vous n’arrivez pas à les repérer, communiquez avec nous à [email protected]. Ser TH1 N21d National Research Council of Canada 0. 954 c. 2 Conseil national de recherches du Canada BLDG --- THE PERFORMANCE OF A VESTLBULE PRESSURIZATION I SYSTEM FOR THE PROTECTION OF ESCAPE ROUTES I OF A 17-STORY HOTEL I by G. T. Tamura I=;E~. 7 LlBRARY Reprinted from p ASHRAE Trans actions 81- 01- 02 Vol. 86, Part 1, 1980 i p. 593 603 - BIBLC~~~~~':QUE?I Rech. 82:ini. c hr ,T, . - i - I DBR Papei- 111-1.- - 7 2% Division of : Build ing Re,search Price $1. 25 OTTAWA RESUME -. On a effectu6 des essais en hiver sur le systsme de protection mscanique du vestibule d'un h8tel 2 appartements de 17 6tages situ6 5 Ottawa et construit en 1974. Le systeme a 6te conqu pour prot6ger contre la conta- mination par la fum6e un ensemble comprenant une cage d'escalier et une cage pour deux ascenseurs situ6es 2 une extr6mit6 d'un couloir. On a 6valu6 la performance du systzme de protection en effectuant des mesures des courants d'air et des pressions pour r6aliser un sch6ma de la circu- lation et de la pression dans l'immeuble; cel3 a permis de deviner le comportement probable de la fum6e pendant un incendie. Les essais ont d6montr6 que le systsme de pressurisation du vestibule devrait assurer une protection efficace contre la contamination par la fum6e des cages des ascenseurs et de l'escalier. THE PERFORMANCE OF A VESTIBULE PRESSURIZATION SYSTEM FOR THE PROTECTION OF ESCAPE ROUTES-OF A 17-STORY HOTEL G.T. TAMURA, P.Eng. Member ASHRAE INTRODUCTION The migration of smoke into elevator and stair shafts as a result of a fire in a building can pose a threat to the lives of occupants, particularly in high-rise buildings where rapid evacuation may not be possible. Several measures to provide protection against this hazard were developed by the Division of Building Research, National Research Council of Canada, and were first published in 1970~;the most recent information on these measures was published in 1977.2 One of the smoke control measures in the original document is identified as the "Protected Vestibule Access to Stairs and Elevators." This measure is intended to restrict the movement of smoke through the escape routes by providing vestibules that are either naturally vented to the exterior by means of an opening in the outside wall, or mechanically pressurized with outdoor air. With this method, a single vestibule on each floor can be used to protect a group of stair and elevator shafts in contrast to shaft pressurization where each shaft is treated separately. The vestibule also provides an additional door, which can assist in preventing adverse flow of smoke when an elevator or a stair door is opened, and serves as a staging area on the fire floor for fire fighters. The results of tests on a vestibule-type protection system with an outside-air mechanical supply to the vestibule and the associated stair shaft have been reported by Cottle et a1.,3 and by ~a~enkolb~for a system with supply and exhaust of air in both the vestibule and the protected stair shaft. Tests were conducted in December of 1976 on the vestibule pressurization system of a 17-story apartment hotel tower (Fig. 1) situated in Ottawa and built in 1974. It was designed to protect from smoke contamination both the one stair shaft and 2-car elevator shaft, located at one end of the corridor. Although the stair shaft was provided with a pressurization system, the test results reported in this paper were obtained with this system shut down. To evaluate the performance of the vestibule protection system alone, tests were also conducted with the building ventilation systems in operation and shut down and, also, with various combinations of vestibule, room and balcony doors open to assess the probable movement of smoke in the event of a fire in a room. DESCRIPTION OF THE VESTIBULE PROTECTION SYSTEM The pressurization fan is located in the exterior wall of the 2nd floor and supplies air to the vertical duct that distributes the supply of outside air to the vestibules on the various floors (Fig. 2). A branch duct located in the linen room on each floor connects the vertical distribution duct to the supply grille in the wall of the vestibule (Fig. 3). The protected vestibule, which is located at one end of the corridor, gives access to the stairs, the 2-car elevator, and the corridor. The two vestibule doors to the corridor are held open during normal occupancy with electrically activated magnetic door holders, which are deactivated upon receipt of a fire alarm. The enclosed floor area of the vestibule is 25.36 m2 (273 ft2). A second stair shaft without a vestibule is located at the opposite end of the corridor. Each room is provided with a swing-type glass door that gives access to a balcony. The corridors are supplied with make-up air, and air is exhausted from the rooms via the washrooms G.T. Tamura, Research Officer, Energy and Services Section, Division of Building Research, National Research Council of Canada, Ottawa, K1A OR6 Canada and discharged to the exterior above the roof of the building. The fans for make-up and exhaust, which are located in the top mechanical room, are shut down during a fire emergency. The required supply air rate calculated from Eq A1 of Appendix A, obtained from Ref 1, was 0.65 m3/s (1,380 cfm) per vestibule for a total flow rate of 10.4 m3/s (22,000 cfm). The capacity of the supply air fan that was installed for vestibule pressurization was 15.8 m3/s (33,450 cfm) at about 50 Pa (0.20 in. of water) static pressure. Eq A1 is intended to account for leakage flow from the vestibule to the corridor, floor space, and elevator and stair shafts, with the vestibule pressurized by 25 Pa (0.10 in. of water) greater than its surroundings. The value of factor E of Eq Al, which is given in Fig. Al, depends on building height. It is intended to take into account the adverse pressure difference caused by stack action during cold weather. TEST PROCEDURE Tests were conducted under the following situations: Test No. 1) Building ventilation systems in normal operation; 2) Building ventilation systems shut down; 3) Vestibule pressurization system in operation; 4) Vestibule pressurization system, and make-up and washroom exhaust systems in operation. Tests No. 1 and 2 were conducted to compare the pressure and air flow patterns with those of Test No. 3 (vestibule pressurization system in operation). Test No. 4 was conducted to determine the effect of the operation of the make-up and washroom exhaust systems with the vestibule pressurization system in operation. For each test configuration, measurements were made firstly with all doors closed and secondly with various doors of the 5th floor open. This floor was chosen as the hypothetical fire floor with Room 505 as the hypothetical fire room. One of the two vestibule doors on this floor was either intentionally open or closed, as well as the entrance door of Room 505 and the balcony door, which was open to give a free area of 0.37 m2 (4.0 ft2) to simulate an opening created by glass breakage caused by a fire. During each test, pressure differences were measured across the doors of the vestibule, stair, elevator, and entrance and balcony of a room on each side of the corridor. These measurements were made on floors 1,3,5,8,11,14 and 17, with a diaphragm-type pressure transducer calibrated with a micromanometer and corrected for zero shift before each reading.