A review of the contribution of smoke management systems in building design by CFD analysis

As it is broadly known smoke is the major cause of casualties in the event of fire incidents in buildings. Accordingly, the majority of fire related-deaths are not caused by fire flames, but by inhaling smoke. Apart from that, as fire-generated gases exceed a certain level, lower visibility can be attained. Aiming to break this vicious cycle between building design and fire safety, smoke management systems underline a fruitful way to tackle this problem. Within this framework, this work focuses on a thorough presentation of smoke control systems in building design. In an effort to assess the significance of such kinds of systems, as well as to justify their contribution from a quotative point of view, highly sophisticated numerical approaches are mostly adopted. In this context, CFD techniques illustrate a rational way to enhance the arrangement of buildings in terms of fire safety (risk assessment). In a nutshell, this paper discusses the main conclusions of earlier research in this important area of study.