SR148 Maintaining tenability of exitways in buildings in the event of fire - literature review (2006)
- Abbreviation
- SR148
- Valid from
- 1/01/2006
- Information provider
- BRANZ Limited
- Author
- A. P. R. Edwards and C. A. Wade
- Information type
- Study report
- Format
Description
There is commonly an over-reliance on the effectiveness of fire or smoke doors in keeping smoke out of exitways, and there are no quantitative smoke leakage criteria specified in the New Zealand Building Code fire safety clauses or the associated Compliance Documents.
This report is a summary of a review of the current published literature on systems used to maintain the tenability of exitways in buildings in the event of a fire.
Current door leakage criteria and exitway ventilation and pressurisation requirements for protection from smoke in building code requirements and standards for New Zealand, Australia and various other countries and the associated published discussion papers are presented.
A selection of statistics and summaries of case study fires that have involved smoke logging of exitways or general smoke inhalation fatalities and injuries is presented.
Experimental and theoretical investigations of doorset leakage and pressurisation in exitways to maintain tenability conditions for safe egress and general smoke movement through buildings are summarised.
Recommendations for potential future work are also included.