Vestibule pressurization system should produce uniform air egress velocity to prevent the intrusion of smoke into escape route when fire accidents occur inside a building and fire doors are open for evacuation of people. Air supplying units in the vestibule need to be arranged by taking account of the location of doors and the volume of the vestibule. In this study, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations were conducted for the vestibule where two doors are installed varying the location of a damper and louver angle. From simulations, we found that when the damper in the vestibule is located at the center of the wall opposite to two fire doors, the uniform air egress velocity can be obtained.

In the case of interior fire in an apartment building, contamination of vestibule area by fire smoke before air fan operating when fire doors are open makes the evacuation of people very difficult. In order to investigate the effect of heat release rate (HRR) and interior opening on fire flow velocity, numerical simulations using Fire Dynamics Simulator were carried out. In simulations, actual dimensions and configuration of an apartment building were considered and interior leakage and HRR were varied. From simulation results, it was found that fire flow velocity distribution is significantly influenced by HRR and interior opening resulting in the change of the location of a neutral plane. Also, it is shown that there is a larger difference of the fire flow velocity between upper and lower part of the fire door when the neutral plane becomes closer to the ceiling.

The pressurized smoke control system in the vestibule is important for fire safety in buildings because it is concerned with egress time of people and the safety of fire fighters. The vestibule pressurization system can prevent smoke from entering the vestibule using differential pressure when fire doors are closed and using the egress velocity when fire doors are open. Air supplying units in the vestibule need to be arranged by taking account of the location of doors and the volume of the vestibule in order to assure the uniform air egress velocity through a fire door when it is open. In this study, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations were conducted for the vestibule where multiple doors are installed and it was found that the reverse flow occurs when the damper position in vestibule is not appropriate.

When an interior fire occurs in an apartment building, pollution of the entrance area by fire smoke before an air fan operates makes the evacuation of people very difficult aswhen the fire doors are opened. Numerical simulations using Fire Dynamics Simulator were conducted to determine the impact of a sprinkler on the fire flow velocity. The fire flow velocity was compared depending on the presence of sprinklers and the sprayed droplet size. The configuration and actual dimensions of an apartment building were used in the numerical simulations. The simulation results showed that fire flow velocity becomes smaller when a sprinkler is installed. In addition, the smaller droplet size results in a smaller fire flow velocity because smaller droplets can be evaporated more easily.