Experimental Study on the Temperature Distribution in an Emergency Staircase of High-rise Building

Abstract

High-rise building safety has drawn public attention due to the occurrence of many catastrophic fires, to study the temperature distribution in the emergency staircase of a high-rise building in an accident, a set of experiments were conducted in a scaled building model. The window state in the staircase has a significant effect on the temperature distribution. When the window in the staircase is opened, the temperatures below the fire source floor almost maintain the ambient temperature during the whole period, but the temperatures above the fire source increase quickly and finally reach a quasi steady stage due to the stack effect. Moreover, if the doors below the fire source are opened, the fresh air flow into the staircase and decrease the temperature. On the contrary, when all windows in the staircase are closed, the doors state has a slight effect on the temperature distribution in the staircase. Because of the absence of the stack effect, the temperatures are low and the temperature attenuation coefficient β is larger.