Numerical investigation of fire in the cavity of naturally ventilated double skin façade with venetian blinds

Abstract

Double skin façades (DSFs), offer great views, architectural aesthetics, and energy savings. Yet, in a fire event the glass façade breaks leading to risks to human life and firefighting difficulties. Shading devices incorporated to prevent unfavourable heat gains to reduce cooling load though offer energy savings potentially present other challenges in firefighting and occupants’ evacuation. In this study, Fire Dynamic Simulator (FDS) was used to numerically investigate the spread of a 5 MW HRR polyurethane GM27 fire in a multi-storey double skin façade building with Venetian blinds placed in its cavity. The blinds were positioned 0.4 m away from the internal glazing, middle of the cavity and 0.4 m away from the external glazing respectively. In each blind position the slat angle was opened at 0°, 45°, 90° and 135° respectively. The results show peak inner glazing surface temperature ranged between 283°C to 840°C depending on the thermocouple position, the Venetian blind position and slat opening angle. Without Venetian blinds, peak inner glazing surface temperatures ranged between 468°C to 614°C. In all cases except when the slat angle was 0° and the blind was positioned closer to the outer glazing, the inner glazing surface temperature from the closest thermocouple (TC 14) above the fire room exceeded 600°C, the glass breakage temperature threshold. Overall, the Venetian blind position and slat opening angle influenced the spread of fire. Venetian blind combustibility and flammability were not considered and therefore recommended for future studies. Practical Application: Our manuscript helps to develop new thinking on mitigation of fire risks in buildings for architects, engineers and designers when incorporating Venetian blinds in Double Skin Façades (DSFs).

Numerical data on fire in the cavity of naturally ventilated double skin façade with Venetian blinds

“…This dataset backs the results presented in Huang et al. [1] . The purpose is to provide transparency to the scientific work done by the authors and to provide opportunities for building services and fire engineering researchers to replicate the work done and to validate their own models.…”

“…The slat angles for the Venetian blinds were opened at 135°, 90°, 45° and 0°, respectively for the varied Venetian blind positions. The simulation time for each scenario was 100 s. The surface temperature data are presented in the Mendeley Data repository [2] on a .xlsx file captioned ‘Temperature Data-Fire in DSF with Venetian Blinds’. In this file, three tabs depicting data from thermocouples installed on the inner and outer glazing surfaces for floors 2, 3 and 4, respectively are provided.…”

“…The same simulation time entry is for tabs labelled ‘Temperature on the Floor 3’ and ‘Temperature on the Floor 4’ , respectively all in the .xlsx file captioned ‘‘Temperature Data-Fire in DSF with Venetian Blinds’’ in the Mendeley Data repository [2] . On both tabs, similar entries as presented for the tab labelled ‘Temperature on the Floor 2’ , is presented.…”

“…In the folder captioned Fire in the DSF with Venetian Blind - Input Data in the Mendeley Data repository [2] are FDS input files with the file extension “. fds”.…”

“…The output data files are found in the folder captioned Fire in the DSF with Venetian Blind - Output Data in the Mendeley Data repository [2] . The files in this folder are “.…”