Experiments and FDS simulations on the make-up air influence on low-power fires within an atrium

Abstract

This paper aims to study the influence of different make-up air configurations on the inner conditions induced by low-power fires within an atrium. For this objective, three full scale fire tests in a 19.5 m x 19.5 m x 19.5 m facility have been conducted. In these tests, symmetric and non-symmetric make-up air configurations, as well as different air inlet areas have been assessed. Later FDSv4 simulations of the tests have been performed and comparisons between measurement and predictions are reported. Experimentally, no significant difference has been observed between the make-up air topologies assessed. Even make-up velocities higher than 1 m/s, with symmetric venting topology, have not induced important flame or plume perturbations. Numerically, the simulations agree well with the experiments for the cases with make-up air velocities lower than 1 m/s. Poor agreement has been found for the case with inlet velocities higher than 1 m/s.