Comparison between experimental tests and computer models of a smokeproof enclosure safety vestibule

Pressure differential systems offer the facility of maintaining tenable conditions in protected spaces, for example escape routes, firefighting access routes, firefighting shafts, lobbies, staircases, and other areas that require to be kept free of smoke. The aim is to establish a pressure gradient (and thus an airflow pattern) with the protected escape space at the highest pressure and the pressure progressively decreasing in areas away from the escape routes. Smoke control using pressure differentials generally are limited to the protection of enclosed spaces adjacent to spaces smoke logged in the event of a fire. This research highlights some fundamental aspects on the pressurization and depressurization transient and the airflow field development through experiments and numerical simulations, with a focus on the pressure variation inside a lobby space and on the velocity profile across an open door in a pressurized lobby.