Analysis of the thermal impact on the stairwell windows of a fire that occurred on the balcony of a residential building

Introduction. The provisions of regulatory documents in the field of fire safety contain requirements for limiting the spread of fire along the flat facade of a building into window and door openings of staircases in the form of requirements for the width of blind partitions, but do not contain corresponding requirements for the distances between balconies and windows of staircases. To substantiate these requirements, this paper analyzes the thermal impact on the stairwell windows of a fire that occurred on the balcony of a residential building.

Aims and objectives. The aim of this paper is to calculate the temperature fields and heat flows in the zone of translucent filling of staircase openings, depending on the design of the balconies, the size of the partitions, as well as the possible wind speed in the building area.

Methods. To solve the assigned problems, analytical and mathematical research methods were used, including mathematical methods for modelling the propagation of general physical properties — field (CFD) modelling of fire dynamics.

Results. Calculation data are obtained to evaluate the thermal impact on the stairwell windows of a fire that occurred on the balcony of a residential building, depending on the design of the balconies, the size of the partitions, as well as the possible wind speed in the building area.

Conclusion. Based on the research, calculated data were obtained to assess the thermal impact of a fire that broke out on the balcony of a residential building and spread along the facade to the window openings of the staircase. The data obtained make it possible to evaluate the influence of the design of balconies, wind speed in the area where the facility is located, as well as the size of the partition on the temperature fields and heat flows in the window glazing area of the staircase, and on this basis — to make the necessary additions and clarifications to the requirements of regulatory documents on the issue being analyzed.

1. Yarosh A.S., Chalatashvili M.N., Krol A.N., Popova E.A., Romanova V.V., Sachkov A.V. Analysis of mathematical models for the development of dangerous fire factors in the system of buildings and structures. Bulletin of the scientific center for the safety of work in the coal industry. 2019; 1:50-56. EDN TUFIDN. (rus).

2. Drozdov D.S., Drozdova T.I. Graphic modeling for assessing fire hazards. Technogenic and natural safety : collection of scientific papers of the 5th international scientific and practical conference. Saratov, April 24–26, 2019 / ed. C.M. Rogacheva, A.S. Zhutova, I.M. Uchaeva. Saratov, Amirit, 2019; 69-73. (rus).

3. Bedrina E.A., Rekin A.S., Khrapsky S.F., Bokarev A.I., Denisova E.S. Forecasting the dynamics of heat and mass transfer processes during fires in typical multi-storey residential buildings. Dynamics of systems, mechanisms and machines. 2019; 7(3):10-15. DOI: 10.25206/2310-9793-7-3-10-15. EDN LTPRRL. (rus).

4. Khrapsky S.F., Bedrina E.A. Dynamics of development of heat and mass transfer processes during fires in residential multi-apartment buildings and its influence on the possibility of safe evacuation of people. Dynamics of systems, mechanisms and machines. 2020; 8(3):124-131. DOI: 10.25206/2310-9793-8-3-124-131 (rus).

5. McGrattan K., Miles S. Modeling fires using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). SFPE Handbook of Fire Protection Engineering. Chapter 32. Fifth Edition. Society of Fire Protection Engineers, 2016; 1034-1065. DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4939-2565-0

6. Nedryshkin O.V., Gravit M.V. Software systems for modeling fire hazards. Fire safety. 2018; 2:38-46. EDN XQNGLB. (rus).

7. Koshmarov Yu.A. Prediction of dangerous factors of fire in premises : textbook allowance. Moscow, Academy of State Fire Service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, 2000; 118. (rus).

8. Puzach S.V. Methods for calculating heat and mass transfer during a fire in a room and their application in solving practical problems of fire and explosion safety. Mоscow, Academy of State Fire Service of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia, 2005; 336. (rus).

9. Cortés D., Gil D., Azorín J., Vandecasteele F., Verstockt S. A review of modelling and simulation methods for flashover prediction in confined space fires. Applied Sciences (Switzerland), 2020; 10(1):1-18. DOI: 10.3390/app10165609

10. Zhang T., Wang Z., Wong H., Tam W., Huang X., Xiao F. Real-time forecast of compartment fire and flashover based on deep learning. Fire Safety Journal. 2022; 130:103579. DOI: 10.1016/j.firesaf.2022.103579 URL: https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfmpub_id=933297

11. Wang J., Tam W.C., Jia Y., Peacock R., Reneke P., Fu E.Y. et al. P-Flash a machine learning-based model for flashover prediction using recovered temperature data. Fire Safety Journal. 2021; 122:03341. DOI: 10.1016/j.firesaf.2021.103341

12. Launder B.E., Spalding D.B. The numerical computation of turbulent flows. Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering. 1974; 3(2):269-289. DOI: 10.1016/0045-7825(74)90029-2

13. Hossain M.S., Rodi W.A. Turbulence model for buoyant flows and its application for vertical Buoyant jets. Turbulent Buoyant Jets and Plums (Rodi W. ed.). HMT Series, Oxford, England, 1982; 6:121-172.

14. Lockwood F.C., Shah N.G. A new radiation solution method for incorporation in general combustion prediction procedures. Proceedings of the Simposium (International) on Combustion. 1981; 18(1):1405-1414. DOI: 10.1016/S0082-0784(81)80144-0

15. Bressloff N.W., Moss J.B., Rubini P.A. Assessment of a differential total absorptivity solution to the radiative transfer equation as applied in the discrete transfer radiation model. Numerical heat transfer, Part B. An International Journal of Computation and Methodology. 1996; 29(3):381-397. DOI: 10.1080/10407799608914988

16. Truelove J.S. The two-flux model for radiative transfer with strongly anisotropic scattering. International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer. 1984; 27(3):464-466. DOI: 10.1016/0017-9310(84)90294-1

17. Bezborodov V.I. Fire stability of the facade translucent structures of high-rise residential buildings : dissertation of Candidate of technical sciences. Moscow, 2019; 161. (rus).

18. Zubkova E.V., Kaziyev M.M. Behavior in fire and fire protection of translucent building structures. Bulletin of VNIINMASH. 2014; 1(16):54-55. (rus).

19. Dudunov A.V. Fire resistance of translucent filling of window building structures : dissertation of Candidate of technical sciences. Moscow, 2010; 128. (rus).

20. Zubkova E.V. Factors of destruction of glass sheets during fire. Technologies of technosphere safety : online magazine. 2015; 4(62). URL: http://academygps.ucoz.ru/ttb/2015-4/2015-4.html (rus).