2023ICERD8-C17 -- Enhancing Safety in Underground Workshops: Adapting Impulse Ventilation System for Smoke Management in Various Scenarios

In the event of a fire in an underground workshop, the smoke concentration increases drastically, which reduces visibility and makes it difficult to evacuate, and it may cause death. This study presents a numerical investigation for designing an impulse ventilation system to manage smoke produced due to a car on fire in an underground workshop. The workshop under investigation is a real underground workshop situated near Cairo, equipped with a ducted ventilation system for smoke management. The study is performed using Fire Dynamic Simulator. The key parameters of this study are the supply rate, the extraction rate, the number of jet fans, the flow rate of jet fans, the direction of the smoke extraction, and the use of smoke barriers. The final design ensures not exceeding the recommended visibility, temperature, and air velocity. The results show that using an impulse ventilation system in an underground workshop enhances the management of smoke compared with the duct ventilation system.