Smoke control engineering: LNE at your service - June 2008
Following approval from the CCS (Central Safety Commission) on 3 April 2008, LNE has now been recognized by the Civil Defence and Protection Department (DDSC) of the French Ministry of the Interior for smoke control engineering studies.
Smoke control consists in evacuating the smoke produced during a fire, inhalation of which is the main cause of morbidity and mortality among fire victims. In France, fire safety of public buildings is covered by the Fire safety regulations of 25 June 1980. Although these regulations are mainly descriptive and focus on resources, performance-based approaches were introduced in 2004, in particular through Article DF4 section 2 and Annex 8 of Technical Instruction 246 on smoke control. They concern application of an engineering approach to prove that evacuation routes remain practicable in the event of fire. This approach aims to define fire scenarios and assess their consequences, by means of computer simulation for example.
This recognition validates LNE's expertise in smoke control engineering (human resources, theoretical and technical skills, comprehensive knowledge of regulations), and positions the Laboratory among France's top three experts in the field.
During the recognition process, the DDSC asked LNE to provide a theoretical assessment of the notion of "smoke-free layer height" as calculated by current software. The study carried out by LNE showed that the smoke-free layer height depends on the smoke concentration limit fixed to differentiate between clean air and smoky air. It concluded that engineering studies should not be based only on this parameter, but should combine it with additional factors such as toxicity.
Contacts : Eric Guillaume
Organization: LNE
